Lost in the Blizzard
by Lord Candycane
Summary: When a Christmas-themed arcade game is plugged into Mr. Litwak's arcade, Candlehead tries to meet the new characters. Unfortunately, she is swept away into the unknown regions of the game by a blizzard, forcing her friends, along with some unlikely allies, to rescue her, while she struggles to avoid the malevolent villain of the game who constantly stalks her through the region.
1. New Game

It was Christmas Eve in Mr. Litwak's arcade. Normally, on Christmas, Litwak would hang some Christmas ornaments around the arcade as a celebration. But it was late 2013, and he wanted something special for the gamers that would regularly flock towards the arcade booth.

From inside Game Central Station, a high-pitched voice among all the chatting and conversations.

"Hey, look everybody! A new game is being installed!"

The voice belonged to none other than Licorice Liqued, a scrapped racer from the candy-coated racing game known as Sugar Rush. Licorice had been scrapped, along with many other racers from the game, but a treacherous racer named Creamy Buttercap had unlocked her and all the other scrapped racers as part of a plot to overthrow Vanellope and the other Sugar Rush racers. However, it had been a stroke of luck that the scrapped racers had a change of heart, and they had become welcomed and official racers of Sugar Rush.

Every character in the arcade turned around to look at where the young girl was pointing. Indeed, A new game was getting plugged into the arcade.

Everybody crowded around the new game, when Licorice shouted, "Hold on a second, I'm going to read the title of the game!"

Looking closely and analyzing the title board at the top of the entrance to the new game, she read the title out loud.

"SANTA'S SLED!"

Witchy, who happened to be flying around on her homemade broomstick, hovered near Licorice and simply said, "Sounds boring, let's go."

"Oh come on, Witchy, can't I just take a look?" Licorice pleaded. "I'm a Halloween person, not a Christmas person," Witchy exclaimed. "Get somebody else to do it, but I'm not interested in it, and neither should you."

With that, she forcefully pulled Licorice onto the broomstick and the two flew back into Sugar Rush.

However, Licorice, being the excitable loud-mouthed little girl that she was, hopped off the broomstick, took a megaphone out of nowhere, and shouted out, "EVERYBODY! A NEW GAME WAS INSTALLED!"

"Licorice!" Witchy groaned. But it was too late. Candlehead drove up to the two former scrapped racers.

"A new game was plugged in?" She asked in an overly cheerful tone. "It was, and it's a Christmas game," Licorice explained. Candlehead giggled and hopped around, barely containing her joy. "I can't wait to meet them!" Candlehead said.

"In that case, why don't you go meet them?" Witchy sarcastically replied. Candlehead paused and stared at the two. "Ooh, good idea," She said. "I'll do just that." Both Licorice and Witchy froze. "Wait, don't do that!" Witchy pleaded, but it was too late. Candlehead hopped back inside her kart and drove off towards the exit of Sugar Rush.

The moment she was gone, Licorice whacked Witchy in the side of the head. "Nice going you Halloween-themed witch!" Licorice berated. However, she wasn't very good at insults.

By then, the other racers, save for Vanellope, arrived. "Hey, where's Candlehead?" Rancis asked. Witchy twiddled her fingers, but Licorice spoke up. "A new, Christmas-themed game was plugged in, and Witchy told Cake-head to go and meet everyone in the game, and she did."

The other racers stared at the two in shock. "Oh come on, what's so wrong about making some new friends?" Witchy asked nervously.

"Every good game has a villain in it," Sorbet answered. "Why would a game about giving presents to children and shouting 'Merry Christmas' all the time need a villain!?" Witchy shouted, flailing her arms around.

**(Scene Transition)**

"Okay, is the villain ready?" A Christmas elf asked the other one from inside _Santa's Sled. _"Oh, sure," The other one replied. "He's hiding in that giant ice fortress on the mountain top."

A third elf came by. "Just make sure those two kids are ready for when the arcade opens. Where are they anyways?"

"Why, hello, little men," A rather high-pitched voice said. The trio of elves jumped in shock and turned around to see Candlehead skipping towards them. "Willow, why did you put on a new dress?" The first elf asked in disbelief. "And why do you have a candle on your head?"

Candlehead stared down at the elves. They all barely made it to her knee, which was surprising for her considering her height. Nevertheless, she patted them on the head, much to their annoyance. "My name is not Willow, my name is Candlehead," She corrected. "Who are you, anyways?"

"The real question is, who are you?" The third elf asked in a gruff sounding voice. He was stouter than the others and had a magnificent beard on his face. "I just told you," Candlehead said. "Wait a minute, where's all the fire, and who's Willow?"

"That's none of your business," The second elf said. "Now please get out of our…"

Suddenly, a gush of wind blew towards the three elves and Candlehead. "Oh Christmas stockings, you have to get out of here!" The first elf shouted, terrified. "Why?" Candlehead asked, not seeming to notice the growing wind flying through the forest.

"It's the villain!" The second elf shouted. "He's been sending hurricanes around since the game was plugged in. But this was is bigger than the others! You have to leave before…"

Suddenly, a hurricane of wind gushed into the snowy forest, and all three elves were swept of their feet and were sent blowing off into the sky. Soon Candlehead was alone, and the winds were getting stronger.

"Guys?" Candlehead asked. "Oh no, I have to…get out of…h-here…"

But before she could move, her kart was blown off by the hurricane and went barrelling off into the sky, along with the elves.

"Oh no," Candlehead moaned as she felt herself started to get ripped form the earth. Letting out a scream, she too was taken by the wind, and was blown off out of the forest and into the icy mountains.

It was then that the winds ceased, and the blizzard died down. The moment it did, the three elves returned to the forest, and her kart went crashing to the ground, but Candlehead was nowhere in sight.

"Holy smokes," The first elf said. "What are we going to tell the girl's family?"

"Who said they had to know?" The second elf said. "That's actually a pretty good idea." The first elf said and the three elves took off out of the forest and towards Santa's factory.


	2. Cold Greetings

"You two did what?!" Vanellope shouted. Both Witchy and Licorice were standing inside the throne room with Vanellope. Witchy was wringing her arms, fearful, while Licorice was staring at the ground, somewhat humiliated.

"You know how Candlehead gets with issues like these," Vanellope scolded. "She'll do anything you tell her."

Sour Bill was standing next to Vanellope, watching to see what would happen next. Rancis and Taffyta were standing in front of the door, anticipating the two's punishment.

"Well I didn't think she would actually listen to us," Witchy defended. "I didn't know she didn't understand the concepts of sarcasm."

"Oh boy," Vanellope face-palmed. Rancis, who was twiddling his fingers, finally spoke up.

"President Vanellope von Schweetz, I don't think yelling at these two is going to solve anything," He said. "Even if the witch girl does deserve it." Witchy turned around to glare at him angrily.

"Anyway, we shouldn't stand around pointing fingers, we have to go to that Christmas game and get Candlehead back," Rancis continued. Vanellope nodded. "Okay, you're right Rancis, let's just get Candlehead and we're out of that game."

"In that case, we'll be going," Witchy stated and turned to sprint away with Licorice, but Vanellope grabbed both of them by the collars. "Oh no you don't," Vanellope said, grinning. "You have to face some punishment for what you did, and that's going to be coming with us."

Witchy felt like she had been shot in the face. "But, it's a Christmas game, I don't do that," Witchy stuttered. "Well you're going to be stepping out of your little Halloween territory, Halloweena," Vanellope mused and dragged the shell-shocked racers out of the door, followed by Rancis and Taffyta.

"Um, President, we're coming with you," Wynchel and Duncan said in unison. "We don't want you getting hurt."

"Don't worry guys, it's just going to be a quick run-in," Vanellope reassured. When she was sure they weren't listening, she quietly whispered to Rancis, "I don't think they would be much help anyways." Rancis chuckled a bit.

With that, Vanellope, Rancis, Taffyta, and the two reluctant scrappies bolted out of the door. The moment they were gone, Sour Bill actually managed to chuckle.

"Well I guess that means I'm in charge," He stated. Wynchel and Duncan groaned.

**(Scene Transition)**

The three elves were sitting in a corner, drinking coffee. "I tell you, when Willow returns I am personally giving her a spanking," The first elf exclaimed and he continued to chug down the last of the coffee.

"If this game gets put out of order because she didn't show up, I may do even worse," The second boasted. "And where's Wynter, the little brat. He of all children should be here now."

"He said something about going to search for Willow," The third explained. "But this game really is in trouble if those two don't show up."

Just then, somebody knocked on the door. "This had better be them," The second stated through gritted teeth. He stomped over to the door and kicked it open, and low and behold, it was the five Sugar Rush racers, all shivering in the cold.

"Mister, uh, could we come inside for a moment," Vanellope asked, freezing from the inside out. Instead, the elf stomped his foot in anger.

"Darn it, it's not them," The elf groaned and slammed the door of the five before returning to drink the rest of his coffee.

"Uh, Tom, shouldn't we let them in?" The first asked. The second, identified as Tom, simply huffed. "I bet their related to that pig-tailed, head-petting big brat. What was her name? Candy head?"

There was another knock on the door. "Oh for goodness sakes, can't they respect that we want them all to die in the freezing cold?" Tom moaned. The first elf thumped over to the door.

"Let's see what they want now," The elf moaned and opened the door. This time, however, there were two more kids at the door. The five freezing Sugar Rush racers were staring at them, confused.

The first was a young girl who appeared to be around nine years old. She was wearing a purple jacket and had red gloves on. Her face was somewhat paled and had a small dusting of freckles around her cheeks and nose. For some odd reason she wasn't wearing a hat, and her dark brown hair was blowing towards one side by the wind.

The second was a boy, who seemed slightly younger. He looked practically identical to the girl standing next to him, but he was actually wearing a fuzzy blue hat. He was clearing freezing out in the cold blizzard, but the girl was simply standing next to him, showing no signs of illness or injuries at all.

The three elves glared daggers at the girl.

"WILLOW, YOU FROZEN DAUGHTER OF AN ICE CUBE!" Tom shouted. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG WE'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR YOU!?"

"Yeah," The first elf agreed. "We had to spend three minutes checking the forest! Do you have any idea how tiresome that was?"

"I outta twist that thin neck of yours and snap your icy legs!" The third threatened. Ironically, it was the boy that trembled with fear, while the girl, identified as Willow, barely moved at all, her expression dulled. Rancis waved towards the elves to get their attention.

"Um, guys, I was thinking, maybe you could…I don't know, let us in…" Rancis stuttered, pausing due to the blizzard outside. Instead the three elves stamped their feet.

"Stay out of this, you nosy younglings!" Tom bellowed.

Rancis, Taffyta, Witchy and Licorice backed away a bit, but Vanellope stomped over to the three elves and slapped all three of them across the face.

"Hey, you pointy-hatted midgets, will you let us inside or not?" She asked. "Oh, sure thing, come in, you little brats," Tom mumbled, rubbing his sore cheek. Witchy scooted over and kicked Tom in the face.

"Who's little?" She asked as she glared down at the small elf. He gulped in fear and took one step backwards.

"Who are these two anyway?" Vanellope asked and gestured towards the two other children, who were currently drinking the three elves' coffee.

"Those are Willow and Wynter, two of the three heroes of this game," The first elf explained. Vanellope's left eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Who's the third hero?" She asked. The first elf remained quiet, but Tom spoke up and answered the question.

"They call him…_Santa Claus._"


	3. The Adventure Starts

"Santa Claus?" Vanellope mumbled, throwing on a blanket to keep warm. "Who in the arcade world is Santa Claus?"

The three elves looked positively furious. "You don't know who Santa Claus is?" Tom asked, fuming with rage. "How dare you?"

"I know who Santa Claus is," Witchy murmured. "Old St. Nick is a jolly old fat man dressed in red and white and sneaks into everybody's houses on Christmas day so he can deliver his oh so precious toys his oh so precious elves made and send off his oh so precious joy and happiness everywhere. Isn't it oh so precious?"

The three elves were dumbstruck. "H-How do you know that?" Tom asked. Witchy shrugged.

"You know, for someone who claims to not be a fan of Christmas, you sure seem to know quite a bit about it," Vanellope mused. Witchy stared at her before brushing her long black hair.

"Wait a tick, how do you make an arcade game based solely on that?" Rancis asked. "That sounds pretty boring."

"That's because that isn't what happens in our game," Tom revealed. "This game is a little more epic than that."

Vanellope was intrigued. "What happens in your game?" She asked. Tom finally cracked a smile.

"Here, Fannar has sent off a blizzard to keep him from getting across the world to deliver all his presents," He revealed. "And St. Nick has to stop him and the blizzard, along with these two orphaned kids you see here." He pointed at Willow and Wynter.

"Who's Fannar?" Taffyta asked. The third elf leaned in closer. "Fannar is Santa's big brother. He's an ice sorcerer and conjurer who lives in the tallest peaks of the ice mountains. He creates ice blizzards at will. But even though he is just an arcade villain, it appears he just went bad. He's evil even during after-game hours."

"How do you know?" Licorice inquired.

"Who else has been sending off these darn blizzards all day," Tom answered. "We've only been plugged in an hour, and already he's sent a dozen snow storms to wreak havoc on the place. And quite a lot has been blowing some poor elf or reindeer into the ice regions."

All five racers gasped. Wynter, who was sitting next to Willow, finally turned his head to stare at them, but Willow continued to stare at the wall.

"D-Does that mean that Candlehead was…" Taffyta couldn't finish.

"Oh, that was her name," Tom mumbled. "Yes, we saw her get taken off by the blizzard and into the snowy ice regions of this game. With the exception of Willow and Wynter, nobody who has gone there has come back. I'm afraid to say that little Candlehead may be yeti spaghetti."

Taffyta felt like she had been punched in the face. "But she's my best friend," She whimpered. Tom shrugged apathetically. "I'm sorry miss, but if you die outside your game you won't regenerate. And unless Candlehead is a tough milk and cookie, she's doomed as long as she's out there with Fannar, and the wolves, and the frost-bites…"

"That's enough, Tom!" A young voice shouted. Every voice snapped around. It was Willow. She was standing on her feet, her arms at her sides, fists clenched.

Tom froze. Willow took several icy steps towards the three elves and yanked Tom up by the beard. Her shiny blue eyes stared right into his.

"I went into that icy region, and so did little Wynter," She reminded. "We were stuck out there with the sorcerer, and those wild animals, and the snow monsters, but we came out alive. If two little children can make it into that mountain top and back unharmed, who's to say that these five racers can't either?"

Tom opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. Willow them dropped him onto the ground and, taking Wynter by the arm, she marched towards the five quivering Sugar Rush racers.

"Listen you five, we are going out there, we are going to save little Candlehead, and we are coming back here safe and sound," She ordered. "Anyone have a problem with that?"

Taffyta, Rancis, and Witchy raised their hands.

"Good, now let's get moving," Willow commanded and, still holding Wynter, she kicked open the door and marched outside, followed closely by Vanellope, Rancis, Taffyta, Witchy and Licorice.

"Wait, aren't you going to tell Santa?" Tom asked. "Not a chance, midgets," Willow called back before slamming the door, leaving the three elves alone.

"Oh my, they are doomed," Tom whispered.


	4. The Frozen Fool

A small girl was laying face-first in a blank sheet of clean snow. A girl wearing mainly pink, and had green hair, and a large candle on her head.

It was Candlehead.

The cake-themed girl was still unconscious after her winter wipe-out. Her candle had been blown off her head by the blizzard, and her skin was paler than usual. She had been like this for an hour.

Finally, there was a small stir. Her icy fingers started to twitch a bit and she started to lift herself out of the snow in one, undignified effort.

"Ggggggrrrrraaahhhhh," She half-moaned and half-yawned. Her eyes opened and her hands squeezed into the fragile snow covering her hands. She stared around the unfamiliar area like a young baby would look around at seeing it's first rays of light.

"Oh my goodness," She gasped in horror. "My poor candle!"

She wadded through the thick snow and towards her candle, which was barely visible due to being covered in snow. Digging into the snow with her bare hands, she yanked it out of the snow and tried to brush it off.

"My candle!" She whimpered after noticing her candle had been blown out. After staring at it for a moment in grief, she just shrugged. "Oh well," She muttered to herself and snapped her fingers. Instantly, another flame appeared.

Placing the candle back on her ice-coated head, she casually said to herself, "Now to get out of here. If only I could find a way."

She finally noticed that she was lost in the icy region. Her eyes widened as she took in just how unfamiliar the area seemed.

"This place is colder than Frosty Rally," She complained and started to walk through the thick snow. The blizzard had stopped for now and it was pretty easy to see. The place looked cleaner than Crumbelina's house.

Biting onto her finger to keep it from freezing, Candlehead's green eyes traced around and happened upon a brown object slightly obscured by snow in the distance. It was a sign.

"Yes, I'm saved!" Candlehead said, barely able to contain her laughter. Skipping through the snow, she stopped in front of the sign and brushed the snow off of it to see what the sign said.

**SANTA'S WORKSHOP IS THREE METERS AWAY**

"Yes, now to go and get Santa so I can get out of this place," Candlehead said to herself. She promptly turned and started walking. In the opposite direction the sign was pointing.

**(Scene Transition)**

"Reese cookies, I hope we find Candlehead soon," Rancis shuddered. The five racers, plus Willow and Wynter, had been wadding through the thick snow for a half hour. The five racers were already freezing cold and getting frost bite after having entered the region twenty minutes ago. Willow and Wynter, on the other hand, had barely even noticed the ice and snow that had become attached to their jackets.

"Remind me to execute you two after we're done this," Vanellope said towards Witchy and Licorice. "Unless the snow does it instead."

Witchy rolled her eyes. "What I'd give for Popsicella to be here," Licorice mumbled to herself. "She'd know what to do."

"Well, I'm not complaining," Taffyta stated smugly. "As long as I have my lollipop." She held her pink lollipop in her hand and raised it to show everyone. Rancis glared at her before snatching the lollipop away.

"Hey, give that back!" Taffyta cried. "It's mine!"

Rancis, without so much as a second thought, tossed it into a lake that for some reason hadn't frozen solid.

"My lollipop!" Taffyta shouted and sank to the ground in despair. "What am I going to do? I'm going to starve to death, and then I'll freeze to death, and then Fanny will make me into an ice statue!" She broke down sobbing.

"It's Fannar," Rancis corrected. "Shut up!" Taffyta shouted and sobbed again.

Vanellope face palmed. "And I thought the cops were drama queens."

"Hey, why don't we ask those two?" Licorice asked, gesturing towards Willow and Wynter. "They seem to know their way around the place."

Vanellope managed a weak smile before shuffling towards Wynter, who hadn't spoken a word the whole trip.

"So, Whitey, I heard you travelled all the way across this region to look for your sister," Vanellope said. Wynter completely ignored the fact that she had misspelled his name. Instead, he continued on walking as if he were deaf.

"Whitey, do you know where you're going?" Vanellope asked. When Wynter didn't respond, Vanellope snapped her fingers in front of his face. This time, he flinched a bit but still remained silent.

"Excuse me, mister, do you talk?" Vanellope asked. Wynter continued walking without saying a word, though he now seemed to be walking at a faster pace now. By now, Willow had stopped walking and was staring at the two curiously.

Vanellope tapped Wynter on the shoulder. "Whitey, just talk to me!" She practically shouted.

"It's Wynter, bozo!"

Vanellope jumped back. However, the shout hadn't come from Wynter, but from Willow. The young girl stomped towards the candy-coated president and pushed her slightly.

"His name is Wynter, not Whitey!" She repeated, offended. "Sorry, hot-pants, I get names like these confused sometimes," Vanellope defended. Willow pushed her again.

"Do you want us to lead you to your friend or not?" Willow asked. Vanellope bit her lip to keep from shouting at her.

"Well, why doesn't Wynter speak?" Licorice asked after a moments notice. Willow turned to face her. "He's just shy," She explained. "His game was plugged in not long ago. Why can't you respect that?"

"We do!" Licorice stated. Willow glared at Licorice, then at Vanellope, before grabbing Wynter and saying, "Come on, guys. It isn't getting any colder out here, is it?" She then shoved Vanellope to the ground with her other arm and walked off, still holding Wynter.

"And I thought my years of being bullied were over," Vanellope grumbled to herself before reluctantly continuing to follow Willow and Wynter.

**(Scene Transition)**

Candlehead was continuing to skip across the plain field of snow. "My goodness, there's been no sight of Santa's quirk job since I followed that sign," She said to herself in amazement. "I should never trust a sign again."

She then heard heavy breathing coming from near the edge of a forest. Her eyes darted around and she saw something in the distance. It was a pack of wolves, chomping on a bone and sharpening their claws on tree bark.

"Ooh, they look friendly," Candlehead said cheerfully. "I guess I should ask them for directions."

With that, she skipped happily towards meat-eating predators.


	5. The Wolves

The wolves were lounging in the edges of the diminutive forest. They were all massive, with long teeth dripping with saliva and yellow eyes darting around the area. Their noses were pitch black, and their back was a dark gray. The rest of their bodies were white.

Most of the pack were sound asleep. Howls and grunts escaped their deadly jaws. Only a mere three were awake, scouring the area for intruders or potential prey. And it was not long before they came across it.

"Hey guys, do you know where the exit of this game is?"

The three wolves twisted their large jaws in the direction of the voice. One of them snarled when they saw who it was.

It was Candlehead.

She was so puny she couldn't fill a single one of them. But still, the three wolves her hungry. And Candlehead looked oh so delicious.

Candlehead, totally oblivious to the starving looks the wolves were giving her, bent down in front of one of them and smiled. It was the biggest of the three, and his eyes were staring directly into Candlehead's.

"So, mister, I was thinking, since you seem like an expert in the, you know, various places in this game, I just wanted to know if you know a way out of it," Candlehead explained. The wolf said nothing, and drool dripped down its jaws as it waited intently for Candlehead to turn around and let her guard down.

"Oh my, mister, your drooling," Candlehead whispered. She then took a Kleenex out of nowhere and wiped the wolf's large jaw, totally ignoring the large, pointed teeth that were slightly poking her small hand. After a moment, she threw the Kleenex away.

"There, now could you tell me where the exit is?" Candlehead pleaded again. The wolf just stared at her, dumbfounded, before he regained his starving glare once more. He walked a little closer to Candlehead, ready to snap his jaws shut around her neck.

Candlehead scratched her hair before coming to an odd conclusion. "Oh, I get it, you're pointing me in the direction of the exit."

She got up and moved away just as the wolf snapped his jaws shut, narrowly missing her. "Well, thanks mister, I'll be on my way," Candlehead said and turned to leave. The moment her back was turned, the wolf charged at her, his mouth hanging open.

Suddenly, his two front feet banged against a gigantic twig that had fallen to the ground. With a yelp, the wolf crashed to the ground. Candlehead spun around in shock and horror.

"Oh my goodness, what a horrible accident," She whispered, not even guessing how close she was to being wolf food.

Picking up the twig, she said, "Don't worry, I'll make sure this doesn't hurt any more of you." With that, she turned to leave. At that moment, one of the other wolves lunged forward, ready to rip into her back.

However, Candlehead turned around in confusion at the last second, and the twig connected with the wolf's snout. The wolf went flying over the other one and crashed into a tree before falling to the ground, dazed.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, mister,"| Candlehead apologized. "I'm so clumsy." As she rushed over to the wolf to help him up, the third one stalked closely behind her, ready to pounce.

"Hmm, it seems your arm has been dislocated," Candlehead said to the barley conscious wolf. "I'll just fix it up and…"

She yanked on the wolf's arm, earning a yelp of pain. She then leapt over and yanked on it again, this time pressing her foot on his back. He howled again in agony. Oddly enough, none of the other wolves heard it. She then did a back-flip and landed on the wolf's back. The wolf jutted back before crashing on the ground, unconscious.

"There, you should be better by noon," Candlehead said. Just at that moment, the third wolf pounced from behind.

"Well, that's that, see you soon," Candlehead said and skipped off while the third wolf collided with the tree and crashed onto the second wolf. The second wolf opened his eyes and howled in agony once more. Still, the other sleeping wolves took no notice. While leaving, Candlehead said to herself, "What a lovely bunch of gentlemen."

The moment she left, a small leaf floated off the tree and lightly landed in the snow. Instantly, every single member of the pack jumped up and got into a defensive position. One of them then looked around and saw the three beaten up wolves.

The wolves spoke something only wolves could understand to their three fallen comrades. After a moment, the wolf lying on top of the other one lifted a bent paw and pointed in the direction Candlehead had left. Immediately, the entire pack took off in the same direction Candlehead had gone.

As bad luck would have it, Candlehead was not travelling closer to the exit of the game, but even farther from it. She was travelling even deeper into the unknown regions of the game.

She was skipping happily when she stopped to see something in the distance. She could just barely make out a shape in the distance.

The shape was starting to get closer to where Candlehead was standing. The hopeful glimmer in Candlehead's eyes started to shift into that of frozen fear as the figure walked ever so close. Soon his shadow had enveloped her entire body.

Her green eyes lifted up to take in his whole appearance. He was massive; Candlehead could only reach up to his knees. His body was hunched over and he was covered in a pale blue robe. His skin was icy and frozen, but it didn't appear to faze him. His eyes were a piercing blue color. He had a long white goatee, and he was entirely bald, but a blue pointed hat covered his head.

His face was twisted into a frown, and his long, prominent nose was bent down to stare at the young girl in front of him. There was no mistake who he was.

It was Fannar.

Candlehead's pupils shrank. She may have shown no fear when confronted by the wolf pack, but this large man with his icy eyes and his grimacing face could intimidate even the bravest of men.

After a moment, Candlehead opened her mouth to speak, but only one prominent noise escaped her lips.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

With that, Candlehead spun around and took off running, Fannar's face twisting around to stare at her.

At that moment, the full might of the wolf pack appeared out of the clearing and charged right past Fannar in hot pursuit of the hot-headed young girl.

**(Scene Transition)**

"Willow, are we almost where Candlehead is?" Taffyta asked Willow. The seven children had entered deeper into the region, but had seen no sights of anybody. And another snowstorm was starting to brew.

Willow just shrugged. "Well I'm not telepathic, I didn't see where Candlehead ran off," She replied indignantly.

At that moment, Candlehead bundled right past the seven, still screaming at the top of her lunges. The seven jumped in shock. Candlehead hadn't even noticed them, and continued on running.

"Was that Candlehead?" Willow asked. "Hey, it was!" Vanellope shouted hopefully. "This rescue will be shortly than I thought!" Instantly, Vanellope, Rancis and Taffyta started shouting in the direction Candlehead had disappeared into.

"Candlehead, we're right here!"

"You Don't have to be afraid, we're with you now!"

"There's no danger now!"

"Um, guys," Licorice whispered fearfully. Everybody turned around to where Licorice was staring. "What is it, Licori…" Vanellope started before she saw what Licorice was staring at.

It was the wolf pack, staring at the group hungrily.

"Uh, are you sure about the 'there's no danger now' part?" Licorice gulped in fear. The seven children bundled together in fear as the pack closed in…


	6. Wolf Attack

The large pack of wolves encircled closely around the seven terrified children. They licked their lips and teeth hungrily as they eyed them. And Vanellope swore she could see them smiling.

Their claws dug deep into the snowy ground as they started to stalk ever so close to the outnumbered children.

Witchy was clutching onto Licorice in terror. Wynter was breathing heavily, waiting for the teeth and claws to inevitably rip into him. Rancis hopped into Vanellope's arms in fear. Willow, on the other hand, just stood in front of the wolves, a blank expression on her face.

"Willow, what are you doing?" Vanellope asked. Willow didn't even turn to acknowledge her. She just faced the pack of wolves with no sign of fear.

The wolves stopped walking and just faced the small group. They were everywhere; from in front of the group to the sides to standing behind them, ready to pounce. There seemed to be hundreds there, at least in the eyes of the horrified children.

It seemed like a millennia for the children. The wolves were just standing there. Every child was just waiting, shaking and trembling, not knowing which moment would be there last.

And then the wolves pounced.

Time seemed to slow for everyone. The wolves were in the air, soaring right at the children, teeth bared and claws extended. Vanellope's pupils shrunk as she saw the huge wolf pounce in her direction.

She was so frightened she didn't even think of glitching. Finally, the wolf's front paws made contact with Vanellope's shoulders, and the two were both knocked right into the air, the massive wolf's claws digging into Vanellope's arms.

Vanellope screamed in pain. The wolf growled in her face and saliva splattered on her forehead and cheeks. The wolf opened his jaws and snapped them shut, inches from Vanellope's small nose. She jerked her head back as the force of the bite caused her shoulders and neck to snap back.

They both crashed onto the snow, the wolf on top of Vanellope. Vanellope didn't know what to do. The wolf's jaw was inches from her face. Finally, she started to roll around from underneath the wolf's body. The wolf slammed his paw on the ground next to her face and she grabbed it and pulled it back.

Instantly, both were sent tumbling and rolling over each other. Vanellope finally found the desperation and started to fight back. The wolf was twice her size, with sharp claws and massive fangs to boot. But Vanellope fought like a lion. She scratched at the wolf's snout and kicked at it as they both tumbled around in the snow.

She was soon on top of the giant wolf, and clawed at it like a madman. But the wolf pulled her down and he soon had her pinned. But Vanellope wasn't giving up. Even as the wolf bent down to bite her, she still punched and kicked with all her might.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see everybody else being attacked. Witchy and Licorice were surrounded by three wolves while Rancis was trying to club another one with a stick. Wynter was being harassed by two wolves who circled him and snapped at him occasionally. Taffyta was crying like a baby as the wolves appeared to laugh maliciously at her plight.

But as Vanellope lifted her face up, still scratching at the wolf on top of her, her eyes narrowed in disbelief when she saw Willow.

She was just standing still just like before, and all of the wolves were running past her as they made their way towards the rest of the group.

Vanellope's jaw dropped in shock, and she stopped fighting for a moment at the rather peculiar sight before them. It turned out to be a mistake because the moment she dropped her defensive stance, the wolf sunk his jaws into her arm.

Vanellope let a shriek of agony escape her lips. The giant wolf simply bit in deeper, shaking her arm in his massive jaws. His paw sank into her other arm. He started scraping at her head. Vanellope started paling and she felt her eyes close.

"Vanellope!"

Vanellope just barely managed to turn her head in the direction the voice came from. It was Rancis. His large stick in his hands, he leapt over the wolves and charged at Vanellope and the wolf.

The wolf didn't even have time to look up when Rancis smacked it in the side of the head with the stick. With a yelp, the wolf rolled off of Vanellope. Rancis was in such a rage that he charged at the larger wolf with no fear and started banging his club at its head, snout, arm, legs, back, and tail.

The wolf whimpered as the rest of the pack ceased its attack. Vanellope rolled her head in the direction Rancis and the wolf were fighting.

Finally, with a growl and a gnash of his teeth, Rancis slammed his right foot into the injured wolf's side. The force of the blow caused the wolf to fly off his feet and he tumbled down a steep hill, howling and yelping all the way.

Rancis lowered his stick and stared down as he saw the giant predator plummet towards the bottom of the hill. The wolf rolled on its side and fell snout-first on the hill and finally banged on a rock near the end of the cliff. The wolf howled in pain and was sent flying into the air and crashed on the ground at the bottom of the hill. And he just laid there, still as a statue.

After a minute, the rest of the pack slowly lumbered down the hill after their fallen comrade. They stopped and surrounded him. After a minute, the injured wolf struggled to his feet and howled into the sky. A howl of defeat.

With that, the pack fled and scattered back to the forest they had originally come from, with the wolf Rancis fought limping slowly after them.

The children watched the pack disband. Their figures grew smaller as they ran farther away form the group. Finally, when every last wolf was gone, every child snapped their heads over to Vanellope. She was lying motionless on the ground, passed out.

"Vanellope!" Rancis shouted and ran to her side. Kneeling down next to her, Rancis held her hand and bit his lips. Everyone else was standing around the two, staring intently.

Finally, Willow bent down and listened for her code to see if it was still active. After several minutes, Willow finally lifted her head up to tell the group the news.

"She's alive, but she's hurt. We have to send her back to Santa's workshop."


	7. Drop Off

Willow and Wynter were carrying an unconscious Vanellope towards Santa's workshop, Willow holding Vanellope's arms while Wynter held onto her legs. The other five racers were in a visible state of panic at seeing their president in such a state.

"This is my fault," Witchy was mumbling to herself. "I should've known Candlehead wouldn't understand I was being sarcastic with my statement. Now look what's happened."

Licorice was whistling a happy tune in an attempt to ease everybody's exhaustion. However, she was on the verge of a mental breakdown as well. Ever since Candlehead saved her from drowning in a taffy swamp, Licorice had thought of Candlehead as her closest friend. For her, Candlehead being in trouble was one of the worst things that could happen.

"Okay everybody, we're going to drop Vanellope off at the workshop, and then we're back on our quest for Candlehead," Willow explained. "Is that clear?"

Everybody nodded. "Good, and besides, the workshop is right here," Willow stated. It wasn't until then that everybody noticed the giant workshop in front of everybody.

Willow instantly dropped let go of Vanellope's arms. The glitchy president instantly landed headfirst on the ground with Wynter still holding her legs as if unsure of what to do. Willow dashed over to the door and banged on it.

"Excuse me, Mr. Short, delivery here," She said. After about a minute, the door slowly opened up, revealing a rather diminutive elf who was about Sour Bill's size. Looking up at Willow, he sighed.

"Tom, Billy and Pointy said you had run off again," He mumbled. "But I didn't expect you to return so quickly."

"It's going to be a short visit, Short," Willow stated. Before Mr. Short could respond, Willow picked up an unconscious Vanellope and roughly tossed her through the door.

"Hey, you can't do that to the president!" Taffyta shouted. "Vanellope isn't the president here," Willow replied before turning to Mr. Short.

"Vanellope here was injured in a wolf attack," She explained. Mr. Short's eyebrow raised in confusion. "They did what?" He asked.

"They attacked Vanellope," Rancis butted in. "What's so confusing?"

Mr. Short opened his mouth to speak, but Willow cut him off. "Never mind them, we have to go and find Candlehead," She reminded before gripping Rancis' arm and dragging him off. However, she twisted around to stare at Mr. Short and shouted out, "Take care of Vanellope, will you."

Mr. Short nodded vigorously. Willow smiled before turning back to the group.

"Now, let's go bring back your friend," Willow stated as the group took off back towards the unknown regions.

**(Scene Transition)**

Candlehead was wandering around the wilderness. Ever since she had escaped from Fannar, she had become more perplexed and petrified by the regions of the game. Occasionally, she would twist around in fright, seeing things that weren't even there. She was shivering in the cold, and bit her nails in fear.

Finally, after several minutes, she heard footsteps plodding lightly through the snow. Turning her head around, she saw a dark figure in the distance.

"R-Rancis?" She whispered lightly, hope clear in her words. The figure took a step closer.

"Oh, Rancis, it's you!" Candlehead shouted, joyfully. She instantly took off running towards the dark figure, her arms stretched to hug it.

And then she froze once she was a few feet away and could see the figure clearly. Instantly, her smile vanished, her pupils shrunk, and her skin paled. Her eyes drifted up to see the frost-bitten face with the icy blue eyes and the long, crooked nose.

She remembered the face clearly. It was not Rancis. It was Fannar.


	8. The Mountain Blizzard

A chill ran down Candlehead's spine. This was the second time she had seen Fannar in less than an hour. Was he stalking her?

Fannar was still standing there, staring down at her. He made no attempt to grab her. No movement. He just stood in front of her, still as a statue. Candlehead started shaking rapidly, her knees buckling. Every muscle in her body was shouting for her to move. But she was petrified by Fannar's intimidating stature. She was waiting, terrified, for cold hands to wring her neck. But nothing happened. Candlehead looked up to stare at Fannar. What was he waiting for?

Candlehead was not planning to wait to find out. Finding the will to move her feet, she twisted away from the large man and dashed off, her small feet plodding through the deep snow.

She turned her face to stare at Fannar while she was running. He was just standing there, motionless, his blue eyes following her as she struggled to get away from him. His frozen appearance was enough to make Candlehead run even faster than Taffyta's Pink Lightning.

She ran in the direction of the large mountains ahead. If she could get to the top of the mountain, then maybe he couldn't follow her.

The moment she reached the large mountains, she instantly slipped on the hard ice concealed by thick snow, and banged her head on the ground. Letting out a shriek of pain, she struggled to her feet. Her forehead was throbbing, and she placed her hand on the wound before getting to her knees, which were shaking from the cold.

Her left hand gripping her aching forehead, Candlehead continued to drag herself up the mountain, lifting one leg before the other. Once more, she slipped and fell, but this time, she got up immediately and continued running. Finally, the pain in her forehead started to ease, and she let go of her forehead and started to run faster up the mountain.

But just at that moment, a blizzard started.

Snowy wind flew down the giant mountain, and Candlehead was immediately tossed backwards, screaming all the way. She crashed headfirst on the mountain. Groaning in agony, she rolled onto her stomach and started crawling feebly up the mountain once more. But the raging snowstorm increased in size, and ice pellets and hailstones were picked up off the ground. They showered the unfortunate young girl, who struggled to cover her face.

A large hailstone then crashed into her already aching forehead, and the force of the blow knocked her right off of her feet and sent her plummeting a few feet down the mountain. Her candle cap slipped off of her head.

"My candle!" She shouted weakly before making a feeble attempt to grab it. But it was no use. The cap flew off in the blizzard and out of sight. Moaning, Candlehead looked down and her green eyes widened in horror.

It was Fannar. He was effortlessly climbing up the mountain after her, his massive arms swinging at his sides.

Screaming in horror, Candlehead completely forgot about her candle and continued to run up the mountain in an attempt to outrun him.

The blizzard was increasing by the millisecond, and soon it was impossible for Candlehead to tell where she was. The sky was darkening and the blizzard was flying past her eyes and nose. Her shoes started to slip off her feet, exposing her bare feet.

As she climbed higher up, she could see a large cave near the top of the mountain. Despite her current predicament, she managed to smile. She was saved!

Climbing at a faster rate, she started to make her way to the large entrance to the cave. Getting to her feet, she started to take small steps towards the cave. Her smile grew bigger as she was soon a few feet form the cave.

But then a giant figure plodded out of the cave. Candlehead could not make out what it was until it was a few feet in front of her. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw it. Thick white fur, black claws, large, knife-shaped teeth, and piercing black eyes.

It was a bear.

The giant bear glared down at the small girl. Enraged at the intruder, he raised his massive clawed paw to strike.

"Wait, no!" Candlehead begged, but it was no use. The bear brought his claw down and slammed his fist right into Candlehead's thigh. With a scream of pain, she was sent soaring through the air like a rag doll. She crashed into an icy wall and fell face-first on the snow. And she just laid there, motionless.

With a roar, the bear edged closer to the unconscious girl and raised his fist for another strike. But then he stopped. Out of the corner of his eye, he turned around and saw him.

It was Fannar.

The giant man stomped closer to the large bear. Instantly, the bear trembled and, whimpering, he shuffled away back into his cave at the sight of him.

Fannar then turned to face Candlehead. The young girl rolled onto her back, and stared at Fannar in horror. He just stomped closer towards her and bent down to stare at her.

Candlehead opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Fannar bent down closer, and Candlehead's eyes rolled back into her head as she passed out.


	9. The Workshop

Vanellope was lying on a bright red and white bed with Christmas trees on it. Her eyes were closed, an arm was hanging off the bed, and she her mouth was hanging open, a bit of drool dripping off. She was snoring louder than a giant.

"Wakey, wakey, President Vanellope von Schweetz," a voice called out. Vanellope got up with a start and snapped her head over to the open door. Mr. Short was standing at the door, smirking. Vanellope looked down at her mouth and wiped the drool off his mouth. "Don't tell Rancis I sleep like this," She pleaded.

"You've been out for an hour," Mr. Short informed her. "Those wolves really did a number on you, from what I've heard." Memories started to flood Vanellope's mind of the wolf clawing and biting her, and she shuddered. It was then that she glanced down and noticed that her arm was in a caste.

"Tom patched you up," Mr. Short said. "You're lucky you survived those wolves. I'm impressed, especially for such a little girl like you."

Vanellope shuffled off the bed. "Don't call me little, little guy," She said, offended. "Where'd everybody go, anyways?"

Mr. Short shrugged. "Willow returned you to the workshop and told me to take care of you after those wolves attacked, and then she left with the other kids. Though one thing still bugs me."

"What is it?" Vanellope asked. Before Mr. Short could answer, Tom burst through the door next to Mr. Short. "Oh, you're awake," He said. "What do you want, Tom?" Vanellope asked, huffing. "Those other elves want to hear your story," He replied.

"But I just got up," Vanellope complained. "I'm afraid you have no choice," Tom answered, grinning. Reluctantly, Vanellope dragged herself to the door and followed Tom and Short out of the door and to the hallway.

The hallway was surprisingly long, about as long as a blue whale. Vanellope swore it took her a half hour to reach the end of the hallway, but finally, she reached the incredibly colossal workshop room.

The room was fantastically detailed. Red, white and green stripes decorated the snowflake-covered walls. The ceiling had a voluminous sled-shaped chandelier hanging from the top. The room was filled with elves and different sorts of toys and dolls. On the floor, there was a picture of a capacious pale full moon in the icy blue sky, and there was a picture of Santa flying towards it.

"Hey, you're stepping on the snowman," Tom scolded. Vanellope looked down and noticed that she was standing on the picture of a small snowman. "Sorry," She apologized and jumped off the snowman.

All of the elves were sitting around the room. Some were drinking beer or hot chocolate, others were playing with toys, and a few were wrapped up in red blankets, shivering in the cold. Vanellope recognized Billy and Pointy among the elves wrapped in blankets.

"What happened to them?" She asked Mr. Short. "They went out in the freezing cold to look for Willow and Wynter during the time of Fannar's blizzard," Mr. Short answered. "But it appears we underestimated the power of his cryokinesis sorcery, and these are the results."

"He cast another one an hour ago," Tom added. "Reindeer and elves were caught in the snowstorm. These few were lucky. The others have not returned."

"Oh no," Vanellope whispered in despair. "Rancis and Taffyta and the rest. They're all trapped in the ice regions with Fannar during those blizzards. They could be in serious danger. I have to go get them."

"You're not going anywhere in your condition, young lady," Mr. Short stated firmly. "You have no idea what it's like out there with Fannar, and the wolves, and...and..."

"And the frost-bites!" Tom added. Several of the elves shivered at the mention of frost-bites.

"What were a bunch of delicate kids like you doing out there anyways?" An elf asked. "Don't you dare call me delicate, pointy-hat," Vanellope warned. The elf shushed.

"Well, tell us already," Tom said. All the elves were facing Vanellope. Finally, the president sighed.

"It all started when one of my friends, Candlehead, entered your game to meet some new people," She explained. "But then Fannar unleashed some snowstorm and she got lost in the icy regions, and then me and some of the other racers came to find her. Willow and Wynter were guiding us."

"Only a few hours and those two have already gotten themselves lost again!" Tom complained. "Anyways," Vanellope continued, slightly irritated at Tom's interruption. "During our journey, Candlehead ran past us, and a pack of wolves attacked and I got hurt, and..."

"WHAT!?" Several of the elves shouted in disbelief. They started mumbling and whispering to themselves in awe and amazement. However, Vanellope misread what they were saying.

"Yeah, I know, I'm a terrible president," Vanellope moaned in despair. "I mean, If I can't even look after one racer, then what chance do I-"

"No, not that," Tom said. "The wolves."

"Yeah, what about them?" Vanellope asked, poking at her cast. "They attacked you?" Tom asked. "Oh course they did," Vanellope replied. "I thought you knew."

"I thought you crashed into a tree or something," Tom admitted. "I can't believe what those wolves did."

"What's unbelievable?" Vanellope asked. "They're wolves, they attack people, you of all people should know this." She crossed her arms and waited for a response.

"That's the point," Mr. Short said. "They _don't _attack people." At that, Vanellope stared at Mr. Short in confusion. "What are you talking about?" She asked.

Mr. Short shook his head in incredulity.

"Those wolves are usually friendly. A little stuck-up, but friendly nonetheless."

**(Scene Transition)**

Candlehead was lying in a large cave on the ground. She was still unconscious, and her skin was rather pale and icy. A blue blanket was covering her. She was shivering, and her breath fogged out of her mouth. A cup of hot chocolate was lying next to her, still warm.

Just at that moment, heavy footsteps echoed throughout the icy cave. Candlehead woke up, startled. She could see the shadow of a large man enter the cave. Her pupils shrank as she recognized it. It belonged to Fannar.

With a shriek, she got to her feet and turned to run, only to find herself facing her reflection in the wall. It was a dead end. The only escape route was being blocked by Fannar, who was still coming.

Finally, the footsteps stopped, and Candlehead could see a large man in the reflection standing behind her. Trembling, Candlehead turned back to find Fannar a few feet in front of her, breathing heavily.

His long nose was pointing down at her. His blue eyes pierced her soul. Candlehead started trembling uncontrollably and tears started dripping down her cheeks.

"P-Please, I beg of you..." She pleaded pathetically. Fannar, a cold sneer on his face, pulled out a large bag, similar in size to Santa's. He held it out in front of Candlehead and dropped it a few feet in front of her. Candlehead jumped in fear.

Fannar bent down and began to pull something out of the bag. Shivering, Candlehead struggled to see what he was pulling out. Soon, an object was visible, but Candlehead could not make out what it was.

Finally, Fannar yanked the object out of the bag. He did it so fast Candlehead could not see what it was.

_A knife, _she thought, and backed away in fear.

Finally, Fannar held the object out for her to see. Her eyes widened in shock, her jaw dropped, and her shoulders slumped in disbelief.

It was a plate of milk and cookies.

"Well?" Fannar spoke in a soft voice. "Aren't you going to eat? It's not getting any colder out here, is it?"


	10. True Colors

Candlehead stared at Fannar, her expression of fear replaced with sheer confusion. She had never felt more idiotic in her life, and that was saying a lot. This giant, intimidating man offering her some milk and cookies? It was the very last thing she ever would have anticipated.

"Well?" Fannar asked again. "These things aren't getting any warmer, now are they?"

Candlehead, still staring at him, quickly snatched away a cookie and took a bite, and prepared to spit it out. But instead, she swallowed it whole after a moment, and promptly snatched the entire plate away and dug in like a hungry dog.

After about a minute, Candlehead wiped some crumbs off her face and opened her mouth to speak, only to burp loudly. Fannar frowned slightly, resulting in Candlehead saying, "Sorry!"

After an awkward moment, Candlehead spoke once more. "Where am I, whoever you are?" She asked in a demanding tone of voice. "And who are you?"

"I'm Fannar Claus, St. Nick's big brother," Fannar introduced. "I'm also the villain of this new game."

Candlehead's jaw dropped. "Then shouldn't you be, well, mean?" She asked, confused. "I'm only mean during game hours," Fannar stated. "And from what I know, new games aren't allowed to be played until a day after they are plugged in."

"But, you were...stalking me," Candlehead said. Fannar rubbed his icy head.

"I wasn't stalking you," He said. "I had to keep you out of the direction you were going."

Candlehead stared at him, dumbfounded. "I was just following that sign that said Santa's quirk job, and then from those nice pack of wolves," She said. Fannar couldn't help but chuckle.

"You asked directions from the wolves?" He asked. "They can't tell where their cave is, let alone Santa's workplace." Candlehead twiddled her fingers, a little embarrassed . "In that case, where was I headed?" She asked, a little nervous.

Fannar suddenly stopped laughing and his tone grew more serious. "You were not only heading in the opposite direction to the workplace, you were heading in deadly trouble." Candlehead gulped.

"What do you mean, trouble?" She asked, shivering. "You were heading in the direction of the frostbites!" He revealed. Candlehead's pupils shrank in terror when she heard that sentence.

"F-Frostbites?" She stuttered. "What are those?"

Fannar shook his head. "We shouldn't talk about them," He said. "However, they are incredibly dangerous. Do you understand?"

Candlehead drank from her hot chocolate as she started processing what she had been told. "Yes, Fannar, I understand," She said in a quiet voice after a moment. She then saw that her arm was bandaged.

"What happened to you anyways?" Fannar asked. "I just saw you unconscious while Mr. Artie was tending to you."

Candlehead's eye flinched. "Tending to me? He tried to kill me!"

Fannar's eyes widened. "Artie tried to kill you?" He asked, clearly shocked. Candlehead nodded. "Yeah, he scratched me with his claws and knocked me into the wall," She explained. "Didn't you know?" Fannar shook his head.

"Why, that just doesn't seem possible," He said. "I thought a big piece of ice hit you." He looked away from Candlehead, rubbing his head even more. Candlehead's eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"He's a bear, what do you expect?" She asked. Fannar turned to stare at her.

"I know Mr. Artie. He would never hurt a fly."


	11. Who's Nice?

"The wolves are nice!?" Vanellope practically shouted. The other elves jumped in surprise. Mr. Short twiddled his fingers, unsure of what to say next, while Tom just put his hands on his hips.

"Don't take that tone of voice on us," He warned. "We were the ones who helped you survive that attack." He stared at Vanellope hard, and the president's cold face eventually softened.

"What do you mean, the wolves are nice?" She asked again after a moment. "They're nice. They're a bit rude at times, but they would never stop to help someone in need," Mr. Short replied.

Vanellope's eyebrow raised in curiosity. "But you weren't there!" She shouted once more. "Those wolves are evil! They tackled us and bit us and clawed us and taunted us and-"

"We get it already!" Tom interrupted, exasperated. "Those wolves were mean."

"No you don't get it!" Vanellope replied. "That's not just mean, that's horrifying. I nearly died because of them, and you're saying that they're friendly?"

"Well, yes," Tom responded. Vanellope's eye twitched and her face started to turn red. "Do you even have any concept of nice, you midgets!" She shouted furiously. "Those wolves are a bunch of-"

"Don't you even think about it, missy," Tom interrupted once more. "You will calm down at once or we will kick you back out into the ice regions with those wolves, you hear me!?" The other elves nodded in agreement.

Vanellope's red skin started to return to normal and her face softened as she started to regain a sense of control. She sighed in exhaustion.

"Thank you, Vanellope," Mr. Short said. "But why did those wolves attack?" Vanellope asked. "I don't know why they attacked you," Mr. Short said. "Even we don't know everything about this game."

Vanellope's shoulders slumped and she frowned. "And to think, my friends are out there, with those wolves, and nobody knows what is happening." The other elves started shrugging and groaning in worry.

"Well, we could always ask Santa Claus," Billy suggested after a minute. Everyone turned to stare at him.

"Billy, that...might actually be the answer," Tom said. The other elves mumbled in agreement.

"Santa will certainly be able to get to the bottom of this and bring Fannar to justice," Tom said. Vanellope finally cracked a smile.

"Well, let's go and meet the jolly fat dude," She said and marched off down the hallway.

Tom and Billy stared at each other. "Does she know that she's going in the opposite direction?" Tom asked. "Who gives a crap?" Billy replied.

**(Scene Transition)**

"The bear is nice?" Candlehead asked in disbelief. Fannar nodded slightly. Candlehead groaned and paced around the room. "Oh, the bear is really good-natured, clawing at me and knocking me into a wall," She said sarcastically.

Fannar shrugged. "I don't know what got into him when he saw you, but he's usually very friendly," He said. Candlehead stopped pacing and raised an eyebrow.

"Then why'd he attack me?" She asked. "I don't know," Fannar said, flailing his arms around. "He was a real softy when I first met him. I didn't think he would actually attack somebody."

"Wait, how many times have you met him?" Candlehead asked. "Twice," Fannar answered. "The first was when I went to stare at the clouds and he came over and offered me a Popsicle, and then during that blizzard when he attacked you."

Candlehead bit her lip as she thought hard on what to do. "I think I get it," Candlehead said, raising her index finger in the air. "He acts friendly to people that belong in the game, but acts hostile to people that don't belong in the game." After a moment, she then added, "Though that still leaves the question as to why he attacked me."

"Look, if you want, I'll go and talk to him," Fannar offered. Candlehead smile and nodded. "Ooh, that's a good idea," She said. "Give him a piece of your mind. Not literally, though, that'd be disgusting."

Fannar turned and started to leave the cave. The moment he was gone, Candlehead turned around and stared at her reflection in the wall.

"Friendly bear, eh," She said to her reflection. "Then where was that friendliness when he punted me into the wall?"

_Then where was that friendliness when he punted me into the wall? _Her voice echoed throughout the gigantic cave. Candlehead shuddered in terror.

"Who's there?" She asked.

_Who's there? _The echo came right back at her. Candlehead's eye twitched.

"Knock it off!" She shouted.

_Knock it off!_

"Shut up!"

_Shut up!_

"I'm having a very bad day."

_I'm having a very bad day._

"You're stupid!"

_You're stupid!_

Candlehead groaned in annoyance. Finally, she shouted, "I'm dumb!"

_I'm dumb!_

"Hah, you just said you're dumb!"

_Hah, you just said you're dumb!_

"Well, yeah, but that was to, uh, trick you," Candlehead muttered.

_Well, yeah, but that was to, uh, trick you._

Candlehead face palmed.

**(Scene Transition)**

Mr. Artie was resting near an ice glacier. "Life is good," He said to himself before being tapped on the shoulder. The bear looked up. It was Fannar, who was scowling, clearly disappointed.

"Oh, hi Fannar," Artie said. "Just enjoying the winter view." Fannar just raised an eyebrow.

"Is that really what this is too you?" Fannar asked after a tense moment. Artie turned to stare at him in confusion. "Was that Popsicle sour?" He asked innocently. Fannar just stared at him in shock.

"You attack a little girl and you only think of the Popsicle?" He asked. "I thought better of you."

Mr. Artie's jaw dropped and he got to his feet. "I never attacked Willow," He defended. "She's sweeter than an ice cube."

"No, not Willow," Fannar corrected. "A small girl named Candlehead. You knocked her into an ice wall and nearly killed her."

Artie gasped in shock. "I know not of this Candlehead girl but I would never do something like that."

"But Candlehead said you attacked her," Fannar replied. "Well, there was a blizzard at the time," Mr. Artie suggested. "Maybe she couldn't see straight and thought she saw me."

"Not many people can be mistaken for you," Fannar said. "But seriously, why did you attack her?" Artie shrugged, unsure of what to say. He was deeply confused.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Artie said and, before Fannar could respond, he turned around and left, leaving Fannar alone at the glacier.

"That was incredibly odd," He said to himself. He sat at the same place Artie had been only a few moments ago to contemplate things. After a moment, he said, "I better get back to Candlehead. Something strange is going on here."

**(Scene Transition)**

Billy and Tom were dragging Vanellope through a different hallway. "Where is he, anyways?" Vanellope asked. "I need to get out there with Rancis and the others before they're in danger again."

"Will you lighten up?" Tom asked. "Santa is just one hallway away." Vanellope groaned.

Billy stopped as they reached the next hallway. "Okay, we're here, you two," He said as they stood in front of a bright red door with white stripes. A picture of a blue present was on the door.

The three heard laughing coming from inside the door. Vanellope finally smiled as she slowly opened the door and peered inside.

A large man was sitting in a seat, his back turned. He was wearing bright red, and a large red hat was on his head. Vanellope could see along gray beard in the limited view that she had. The man was sitting at a brown desk, and was writing something.

Immediately, Vanellope glitched in front of the man. The man looked up, a big grin on his face. Before Vanellope could say anything, the man opened his mouth and spoke first.

"Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!"


	12. Santa Claus

"Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!"

Vanellope's mouth dropped open in shock and disbelief. It was really him. The great Santa Claus himself!

Santa, his long white beard hanging from his face, was sitting in a red chair and was laughing so loudly he shook the wall. Vanellope could see a long paper, with the bolted words at the top. One was labelled Naughty, and the other was labelled Nice. Several names were below them.

**Naughty:**

**Gene**

**Creamy Buttercap**

**Witchy Halloweena**

**Taffyta Muttonfudge**

**Cy-Bug**

**Fannar**

**Tom**

**Nice:**

**Fix-It Felix, Jr.**

**Wreck-It Ralph**

**Tamora Jean Calhoun**

**Candlehead**

**Rancis Fluggerbutter**

**Zangief**

**Licorice Liqued**

**All the elves, except Tom**

"Hey, where am I on that list?" Vanellope questioned. Santa stops laughing. Then, in a booming voice, he states, "I haven't finished the list yet. I'm a busy man, you must know."

Vanellope nodded and pretended to listen. However, just as she opened her mouth to respond, Santa raised his large hand and cut her off. "By the way, who might you be, little one?" He asked.

"Don't you dare call me little, chubby!" Vanellope warned. Santa continued to smile despite the insult. However, he did respond with, "Ho, ho, ho, looks like somebody's getting coal!"

"Sweet mother of monkey milk, I apologize for that comment!" Vanellope apologized immediately. Santa chuckled rather smugly.

"Well, anyways, who are you?" He repeated. "My name is President Vanellope von Schweetz of the Sugar Rush Kingdom," Vanellope introduced. "And I know who you are. You're Santa Claus."

"Right you are," Santa Claus responded. "And I see when you are sleeping, and I know when you're awake."

"That's...a pretty creepy thought," Vanellope whispered. Santa Claus paled a bit. "Don't take that literally," He reassured. Vanellope breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, anyways, I need your help on something," She said.

"Don't worry, I can do anything," Santa reassured. "Okay, so Fannar conjured a blizzard, and I need you to stop it," Vanellope explained. Santa paled even more. "Oh, I can do anything except for that," He admitted.

Vanellope's eye twitched. "Are you kidding me?" She shouted. "You're the great St. Nick himself but you can't stop a snowstorm?"

"That's why I have Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to guide me while I deliver my presents," Santa explained. Vanellope face palmed.

"Well, things are a little worse than that, St. Nick," She said. "What did he do now?" Santa asked. "He sent one of his blizzards while a friend of mine named Candlehead was going out to meet some new people in your game, and she was swept out into Fannar's regions," Vanellope explained.

Santa's blue eyes widened in shock. "T-That's horrible!" He said. "If she's with him, she could very well be an icicle!"

"I get it," Vanellope mumbled. "However, me and my friends were going off to find her. Willow and Wynter were guiding us." Santa raised an eyebrow. "Those two don't know very much about directions," He revealed.

"Then how can they guide them into the regions without getting themselves in trouble?" Vanellope asked. Santa shrugged. "Willow did have a knack for getting into trouble. Hopefully Mr. Artie and those wolves could help you with directions."

"That's another thing I should bring up," Vanellope said, disappointed of being reminded of the wolf pack. "Those furry fiends attacked us! They bit us and I nearly got killed!"

Santa nearly fell out of his chair in shock. "W-What?" He sputtered. "Those wolves aren't the type to do that. They're a little snobby, but they're good people, er, animals."

"The elves told me that too," Vanellope said. "But seriously, those wolves are vicious. And to think, Rancis and Witchy and Taffyta and those two orphans are all out there alone with those wolves. And Candlehead is lost all by herself."

"I still don't understand why those wolves attacked you," Santa Claus admitted. "That's the second last thing I would expect to happen."

"What's the last thing you would expect?" Vanellope mused. "Fannar being good," Santa responded. "Well, anyways, help me out here," Vanellope said. "Why would those wolves attack us. The elves said you would have an answer for me, so what is it?"

Santa sighed. "Well, I do have one explanation," He revealed. Vanellope's eyes twinkled and a smile showed on her face. "Well, what is it?" She asked, clearly excited. Santa opened his mouth to respond, when suddenly, the windows burst open and snow and hail soared through the room.

Vanellope shrieked in terror as she was engulfed with snow and ice. "Get down!" Santa shouted and pushed her out of the way of a spear-shaped icicle. Billy and Tom rushed over to try and shut the windows, but they were immediately pushed back by the full might of the snowstorm.

"It's the blizzard!" Mr. Short shouted through the sounds of ice smashing against the walls. "It's stronger than ever! It's entering through the windows!"

"Sweet mother of monkey milk!" Vanellope cried as a large snowball struck her in the face, knocking her over. Mr. Short, Billy and Tom rushed over and grabbed her right before she hit the ground and promptly rushed over to the open door.

"Go!" Santa shouted. "We have to get into the basement before the blizzard freezes everything in the workshop!"

He gestured for the three elves and Vanellope to leave the room before following them outside, shutting the doors behind him.

**(Scene Transition)**

"Willow, this blizzard is intensifying!" Rancis shouted over the sound of the snow blowing in all directions. Everyone was struggling to move through the rough, icy terrain. Ever since the blizzard had struck, the snow on the ground had become higher and thicker. The snow was up to the children's waists at this point. They were all shielding their eyes as they walked to avoid being struck in the face by ice.

"I know where we're going," Willow reassured. "We should go get help somewhere," Taffyta suggested. "Who's going to help us out here?" Willow asked. "Everyone probably hid away the moment the blizzard struck."

"Funny, because I can see someone in the distance," Taffyta revealed and pointed to the left. Everyone turned around and stared where she was pointing.

A large figure was standing in the distance. It was massive, with large arms and gigantic hands. It was too dark to see who it was through the darkening skies and the snow and hail obscuring everyone's views.

"Is that Fannar?" Licorice asked. "No, it looks...bigger," Willow whispered, shaking with fear.

The figure stomped towards the six shivering children, and finally they could see him.

He had white fur and brown, bear-like paws and feet with five sharp, deadly claws at the ends of his fingers and toes. He had a row of sharp, fanged teeth, and his eyes were pitch black. He was breathing heavily.

The children froze and their eyes shrunk in terror as they realized what they were staring at.

It was an Abominable Snowman.


	13. Abominable Snow Rampage

The Abominable Snowman's icy breath breezed other the six children and his fangs were bared and ready to strike. His black, soulless eyes stared down at the six, as a lion would stare at a gazelle before striking.

Most of the kids were quivering with fear. Wynter just waved happily at the giant beast and smiled brightly. The others briefly forgot about the monster and turned to stare at the oblivious Wynter.

"Wynter, what in frost bites name are you doing?" Willow asked. Wynter turned to stare at her and stopped waving, but he continued to say nothing.

"Look out, everybody!" Taffyta shouted as the Snowman roared with such ferocity that it shook the very ground. Swinging his massive paws, he aimed for Wynter and lashed out. However, Witchy grabbed Wynter and shoved him to the ground just before he was struck.

Wynter's mouth was agape in surprise, and Witchy thought she could she a twinge of betrayal in his eyes, but she couldn't think of that now. The Abominable Snowman growled furiously and brought his fists down once more. Witchy once more pulled Wynter out of harms way.

"Let's get out of here!" Rancis shouted timorously and the other six children turned and started to flee. Or at least, they were trying to. The snow was up to there necks by now, and it took a minute for each of them to put one foot in front of the other.

Another bellow from the massive Snowman got the six to practically start digging through the snow to get further away from the behemoth. Licorice turned around to stare, but the dark sky and hail raining onto them blurred her vision. All she could make out was a dark figure that seemed to be moving closer.

"RRRAAAUUGGGH!" The Abominable Snowman roared and slammed his giant fist a few inches away from the kids, forming a hole in the snow. "Move it, move it!" Willow shouted urgently, shoving Wynter and Witchy forward.

However, the Abominable Snowman swung his fists at the six, and managed to strike Taffyta. The Strawberry girl went soaring towards the others and smashed right into them.

Rancis yelped. Licorice squeaked. Willow groaned in frustration. Wynter opened his mouth in shock, but nothing came out. Witchy just boxed Taffyta upside the head in anger. Immediately afterwards, the six lost balance and went crashing to the ground.

As the Snowman lumbered towards them, Willow started to get to her feet. Just at that moment, she slipped on the ice. It was then that she realized that they were standing on an icy hill.

Before anyone could say a thing, the six went tumbling down the hill. They started shouting and screaming with pain as they rolled violently down the icy and bumpy hill.

Willow looked up just in time to see the Abominable Snowman come barrelling down the hill as well, growling hungrily, his claws stained with tiny icicles and his breath fogging out of his mouth.

Screaming, Willow dragged herself faster down the hill, with the ice lying at the bottom of the snow boosting everybody's speed.

At the bottom of the snow, the snow had mostly vanished, and a large frozen river lay at the bottom. The moment the kids slid down the bottom of the hill, they slipped onto the icy river and slid across the river, screaming in surprise.

Willow was the first to come to a stop. As she looked up, she saw the Abominable Snowman. He too, had reached the bottom of the hill, and he was skating towards them, a look of hunger and ferocity on his face.

As the kids slowly came to a stop on the ice, the Snowman slip steadily towards them. It then came to a stop a few feet away and slowly lumbered towards them. It appeared to be grinning, and his fangs were gnashed.

Rancis, looking around, saw a sharp icicle, shaped like a sword lying on the river. Before the Snowman could react, Rancis dove towards it and grabbed it in his hand, before getting up and lunging towards the Snowman.

"Rancis, don't!" Willow shouted, but it was too late. Rancis aimed the icicle at the Yeti's furry leg, and stabbed at it.

There was a sound of ice smashing, and soon, shards of ice were sent flying in all directions. A small chunk scraped Witchy across the cheek while Licorice pushed Taffyta out of the way of a sharp icicle shard.

Rancis opened his eyes a bit, and his eyes widened even more when he saw that the icicle had totally smashed into pieces the moment it struck the Yeti. Timidly, he looked up to see the unimpressed Snowman staring down at him. The Yeti raised an eyebrow as if to say, "Is that the best you got?"

Before Rancis could flinch, the Yeti swung his massive paw and swatted him like a fly. Rancis soared through the air like a rag doll, and landed squarely in Taffyta's arms, knocking her to the ground. Rancis slipped out of her arms and lied on the ice river, unconscious.

"Rancis!" All of the Sugar Rush racers shouted in unison. The Yeti started lumbering towards the six again, and Willow was lying right in front of him, struggling to get to her feet on the slippery river.

"Willow, get out of there!" Witchy shouted. However, to everybody's amazement, the Yeti lumbered right past Willow, barely acknowledging her, and instead moved on to the rest of the kids.

"What the broomsticks?" Witchy said to herself before Licorice shouted, "Witchy, he's coming right for you!"

Witchy looked up to see the Yeti charging in her direction, roaring loudly.

"Oh no you don't!" Witchy shouted and stomped on the frozen river. Immediately, everybody slipped and started to crash to the ground as the icy river started to shake. Then, a crack formed from where Witchy had stomped, and it started expanding in the direction of the Yeti. The Snowman could only grunt in confusion before the ice broke from under him, and with a roar, he splashed into the water below the ice.

"Well that was easy," Witchy said. Just then, a paw splashed from above the water. "Never mind, let's get out of here!" She added before the kids raced off the river, Willow holding onto an unconscious Rancis.

The moment they were gone, the Snowman burst from under the water. As he crawled to shore, he stared in the direction the kids had left. He growled in disappointment and his black eyes narrowed in anger.

This wasn't over.


	14. Bear Brawl

The six children had taken off down the icy terrain. The blizzard was beginning to wear down, and the high snow had started to harden into ice, allowing the kids to simply walk on top of it. Occasionally, the ice would break, but they were just happy to be away from the Yeti.

Finally, the kids came to a stop at another ice river. Witchy slumped to the ground while Wynter paced around the area in deep thought.

"Is the monster gone?" Taffyta asked. "I think he is," Willow said in an exultant tone. "Now we just have to wait until Reese boy recovers from his winter blowout."

Taffyta raised an eyebrow at Willow's comment, but before she could say anything, Wynter strutted over to the two and tapped Willow on the shoulder without saying a word. Willow raised her hand and extended her index finger to Taffyta as if to pause her, and then she and Wynter quietly sauntered away from the group.

The moment they were gone, the three heard Rancis moan. Taffyta and Licorice immediately hugged him to the point of strangulation, but Witchy just stared at him, here arms crossed.

"You know Rancis, what you did was incredibly...imperceptive," She muttered. Rancis frowned slightly at her insult before opening his mouth to respond. However, Witchy continued.

"I mean seriously, you thought a shrimp like you could have gone up against a behemoth like that Yeti?" She berated. "Did you and Candlehead switch brains?"

"That's enough, Witchy," Licorice said before helping Rancis to his feet. However, he started to stumble around the place, still dazed from the blow the Yeti dealt him.

"Something's not adding up," He mumbled. Witchy cocked an eyebrow. "What's not to understand?" She asked. "A big monster attacked, you got floored like a pussy, we get away, end of story."

"No, not that," Rancis said. "It's about Willow and her brother."

"What, it's not like they caused the attack," Taffyta interjected. "No, did you look at Wynter right before that thing came after us?" Rancis said. "He just waved at it with a huge smile on his face like he was an old friend."

"Now that you mention it," Witchy said, "That yeti barely seemed to notice Willow. He just walked right past her."

"In fact, the same thing happened with the wolves," Licorice said. "They beat the tar out of us but didn't lay a claw on Willow."

"But they did attack Wynter," Rancis reminded. "Something strange is going on here, and by the looks of it, finding Candlehead may be the least of our problems."

Witchy turned in the direction Willow and Wynter had gone in. "What are those two doing anyways?" She asked.

"I'll go check," Licorice mumbled and strutted over in the direction the twins had gone in.

Licorice heard talking coming from behind a hill covered in ice. She looked behind the corner of the hill, and there she saw Willow and Wynter. She was talking to him, and he was talking back.

"Willow, I still don't understand why Mr. Snowman attacked us," Wynter said in a despondent tone. Licorice's jaw dropped. She had never heard Wynter talk before.

Willow just shrugged. "Maybe he was having a bad day, and decided to lash out at somebody," She muttered. "I know him, he would never do that," Wynter shot back.

Willow put her hands on his hips. "Did you really know the guy?" She asked. "Of course I did!" Willow shouted. "Well, I didn't, so why should we trust him, especially after he hurt Reese boy?"

"I don't know, but something's confusing me," Willow said. "The wolves were a stuck-up but friendly pack, and yet they tried to tear us apart before. And now Mr. Snowman goes on a wintery rampage."

Licorice's face distorted into that of confusion. The wolves and the Yeti were friendly? What was going on in this weird winter world?

"Maybe they got a bad taste of frost bite," Willow said sarcastically. Her eyes then traced around and landed on Licorice, who was frozen on the spot.

Licorice's eyes widened in shock. Every muscle in her body was telling her to move, but for some reason she just couldn't. It was like her legs were frozen to the ground.

Willow stomped over to Licorice, her arms crossed, and muttered, "Licorice, why couldn't you just leave us in peace for a minute?"

Back at the ice river, the other kids were throwing snowballs at the river, bored out of their minds. Witchy happened to turn around and see Licorice and Willow and Wynter returning.

"Oh hey, they're back," Witchy muttered plainly. Willow then tossed Licorice towards Witchy, knocking them both to the ground.

"Hey, what was that for?" Taffyta asked. "Taffy cake, why was Licorice spying on us?" Willow asked, clearly not amused.

"Well, you were gone for a while, and Licorice was worried and..." Taffyta didn't know what else to say. It was rather rude and inconsiderate to secretly watch people when they don't want to.

"Wynter was talking!" Licorice shouted. Every head snapped over to her. "What are you talking about?" Witchy asked. "I thought he was mute?"

"When I was, well, spying on the two, I clearly saw Wynter and Willow having a conversation with each other about the Yeti and those wolves," Licorice explained. "Show them, Wynter."

Every head was now on Wynter, whose eyes darted around the place nervously. Eventually, he opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He seemed confused.

Licorice twiddled her fingers, somewhat embarrassed. Then, Willow pelted her with a ball of ice. "How dare you put words in our mouths," She scolded. "Hey, leave her alone!" Witchy shouted. "Or else what?" Willow asked in an innocent smile.

What Witchy did next nobody could have anticipated.

She slapped Willow.

Witchy's hand shot out and her open palm connected with Willow's cheek. The brunette girl stumbled backwards in shock, her eyes widened in disbelief. Everybody gasped, except Wynter and Witchy.

Willow just stood there, frozen in place, before shaking her head rapidly and glaring at Witchy in anger. Before Witchy could react, Willow shouted and lunged at her, tackling her to the ground.

The two girls slapped and kicked at each other, rolling on the ground and punching each other in the face. Wynter covered his mouth in horror while Rancis shouted something along the lines of, "Yeah, get her, Witchy! Show her who's boss!"

Eventually, the two girls bumped into something. The two looked stopped fighting and looked up. It was a large white polar bear, the same one who had encountered Candlehead.

The bear was breathing heavily and he glared down at the two sinisterly, but he did not move. However, Witchy was not planning to wait for him to attack. She kicked Willow off of her and ran screaming towards the group.

The polar bear roared loudly and got on all fours and charged after the group. But just like the wolves and the Yeti, it raced right past Willow without noticing her. Willow sighed in relief, but her face turned to horror as she noticed the bear was running towards Wynter.

"Run, Wynter run!" She shouted. Wynter obeyed and turned around and took off with the bear hot on his trail.

The other kids returned to Willow. Before anyone could say anything, Willow took out an ice club and said, "Come on guys, we are not letting my brother become bear food."

"But won't he just regenerate?" Taffyta asked. "It's still very unpleasant," Willow shot back. "Now let's go!"

Instantly, they heard the bear roar, followed by a thud. The five children barrelled towards the same direction Wynter and the bear had gone.

When they finally got there, they froze. Wynter was whacking the bear upside the head with a club, creating the thudding. The bear was trying to swipe at him, but missed every time. The two were standing near a large chasm.

"Come on!" Willow shouted and the group charged at the bear. The bear spun around in shock and was tackled by the group. Taffyta kicked the bear in the shin while Rancis bit onto the bear's arm.

The bear roared in frustration and struggled to shake the kids off. He started to stumble towards the edge of the cliff. Finally, the bear tossed Rancis off his back. The Reese boy landed at the edge of the cliff and hung on for dear life.

"Wynter, help!" He shouted, panicking. Wynter, without saying a word, moved towards him and extended a hand, but the bear's large paw smacked into him and sent him flying off the cliff and into the chasm below.

"Well, I guess I'll just be hanging here for a while," Rancis muttered.

The bear roared again and threw back his head, causing Witchy to lose her grip on him and land on the ground. She started sliding on the slippery ice and ended up sliding right off the cliff along with Wynter.

"Witchy!" Taffyta shouted in shock. The bear used the opportunity to snatch Taffyta off his back with his claws. Holding the girl upside down, he roared loudly in her face before tossing her away in disinterest. She fell screaming into the chasm.

The edge of the glacier started to crack. Rancis' eyes widened in horror as the ice cracked near his hands. Finally, the ice broke apart and Rancis started to plummet off the glacier. Instinctively, he grabbed the nearest thing: Willow's leg.

Willow screamed in shock and horror as she was dragged into the chasm with Rancis.

Now Licorice was the only one left. The bear stared down at her and huffed loudly. Licorice turned away and looked down at the chasm, and then back at the angry bear in front of her. She then shrugged and said, "Oh well."

With that, she jumped off the cliff and into the chasm.


	15. The Chasm

The six children plummeted deep into the massive chasm, screaming in terror. The chasm was getting darker at the bottom, and soon the falling children could barely see their fingers spread at their sides.

The chasm was a mile deep, and the two glaciers that separated it were at least a kilometre apart. At the bottom was a hard, icy floor, with icicles and stalagmites at the bottom. It would seem that a fall from that height would be fatal.

Alas, is it was not so.

"Grab onto me!" Willow shouted urgently. Nobody heard her through the sound of their own high-pitched shrieking. "I said grab on!" Willow repeated, as she started to pick up speed from the fall.

Throughout it all, Rancis managed to hear her. Reluctantly, he stretched an arm forward and grabbed her hand. Seeing this, Witchy muttered, "This is so queer," before grabbing Willow's other hand.

Licorice managed to grab Witchy's foot, and Taffyta grabbed Rancis by the collar. The last was Wynter. With a look of uncertainty on his face, he grabbed Willow's jacket.

"What do we do now?!" Rancis shouted as the gravitational pull dragged them closer to the ground. "Just wait for it," Willow reassured. They were now only a few metres away from the hard, icy ground.

"We're going to die!" Taffyta shrieked.

"SHUT UP!" Witchy shouted in response. "I don't want to think negative thoughts at this dire moment!"

They were now only inches away from the ground. Everybody continued screaming so loudly the icy floor cracked. The only ones who weren't making a sound were Willow, who was looking at the nearing ground with determination, and Wynter, who hadn't said a word since Licorice had caught him talking to Willow.

Then, something incredible happened.

A hurricane of snow enveloped the six children. Snowflakes danced softly along their fingers and eyelids. Soon, the hard, frozen ground was covered entirely in soft, plain snow.

The six children landed softly in the snowy pillow that had been created for them. All six of them had made a child-shaped hole in the snow. Willow was the first to get to her feet and started stretching.

"Yay, snow angels," Licorice giggled happily while she lay in the snow bed. Witchy got up and pulled Licorice out of the snow. "If you're done playing, you'll notice that we're still stuck in a chasm," She reminded.

"No kidding, Einstein," Willow muttered and started brushing snow off her jacket. Rancis kicked his feet in the air and got up. Licorice and Witchy laughed when they noticed he had a snow beard.

"Where are we, anyways?" Taffyta asked. "We're in a chasm, genius," Willow replied. "And we're lost."

"Oh well, at least nothing's chasing us," Taffyta muttered, managing a weak smile.

At that moment, a howl struck everyone's ears.

"You just had to say it," Willow groaned as a large creature stomped through the snow towards them, one who they recognized right away.

It was the Abominable Snowman.

"Are you kidding with this crap?" Witchy groaned, exasperated. Taffyta dove behind Willow as the Yeti threw his head back and howled to the sky. Wynter jumped into Willow's arms in alarm. Willow stared at him with a look of unpleasantness before dropping him to the ground.

Rancis and Licorice screamed in terror and sprinted off. But in their rush to escape, they ran right into each other and bumped heads. Stars floated around Rancis' head as he stumbled around, dazed, before crashing to the ground. Licorice was sent flying into one side of a glacier.

"Please, Mr. Snowman, I beg of you," Taffyta pleaded, before shoving Witchy in front of him. "Take her instead!"

Witchy turned around with a 'What the heck?' expression. Taffyta giggled nervously.

The Abominable Snowman opened his mouth to speak, but what followed was the biggest begging speech ever produced by a Sugar Rush Racer.

"Please, Mr. Snowman!" Taffyta entreated. "I am innocent! Sure, I may have picked on a girl because I thought she was a glitch, and sure I may have not invited everybody to Sugar Rush anniversaries, and sure I may have ran my fellow racers off cliffs and blown up their karts and shoved them into taffy swamps and chocolate puddles and rigged several races so I would win and cheated Swizzle out of a gold coin and stole Gloyd's pumpkin hat on Halloween and gave Jubileena a wedgie and smashed a cake in Turbo's face and tasered Snowanna and chopped off Creamy's hair and treated Rancis like dirt for several years because he never won a Sugar Rush Cup, but you must know that deep down, I am not a bad person. I beg of you to spare my life and not eat me. And I must inform you that Witchy tastes so much better than me." She pointed a finger at Witchy with a nervous smile on her face.

"Oh for goodness sake, Taffy!" Witchy shouted. It was then that the Abominable Snowman once again opened his mouth, revealing several rows of sharp teeth. Taffyta clutched Witchy tight and screamed in terror. Willow screamed in horror and clutched onto Willow. Licorice picked an unconscious Rancis up off the ground and used him as a human shield, quivering in fear.

"Please don't eat me!" Taffyta begged once more. "I'm too young to die!"

And it was then that the Abominable Snowman spoke.

"Eat you?" He asked. "I just wanted to know if you wanted gingerbread cookies." He pulled a tray of fresh gingerbread cookies out of nowhere and held it in front of the kids.

The children looked up at the Yeti, and their jaws hung open in shock. Rancis then lifted his bruised head up and spoke something that summed up everybody's thoughts perfectly:

"What?"


	16. Mr Snowman

"There had better be an amazing explanation for this!" Willow demanded. Mr. Snowman had introduced the six freezing children to his icy lair, which was filled with gingerbread cookies and milk, and both Willow and Witchy had immediately turned hostile.

"What explanation do you need?" Mr. Snowman asked. "Why are you helping us?!" Witchy shouted. One moment you try to snap us up in your giant mouth, and now you're offering us gingerbread cookies?"

"I made them myself," Mr. Snowman boasted. "Never mind that!" Witchy interrupted. "Something funny is going on here, and I doubt it doesn't just concern you!"

"I never noticed something funny was going on," Mr. Snowman admitted.

Witchy's left eye twitched. "But you must!" She cried. "Wynter clearly seemed to know you before, until you attacked him. Then you act all friendly to us? It doesn't make sense."

"I attacked him?" Mr. Snowman questioned, and for the first time he almost sounded angry. "I never attacked anybody, and you can't prove otherwise."

"Well look at the claw marks on Rancis," Taffyta inquired and pointed in Rancis' direction. Mr. Snowman turned, unconvinced, towards Rancis' direction, only for his eyes to pop open in shock to see that Rancis indeed had several giant claw marks on his jacket and arm, courtesy of the earlier thrashing the Yeti had delivered to him earlier.

"I...didn't do that," Mr. Snowman denied, flabbergasted. "Then who did?" Taffyta pressed on. "You're telling me somebody dressed up as you and attacked us, instead?'

"You know, that is a plausible theory," Licorice admitted. "Shut up, Liqued!" Willow shouted. Licorice raised her hands in defence and backed off. Everybody stared at Willow, shocked.

"I just need to think about things," Willow said, breathing heavily. "Now, if you excuse me and Wynter, we are leaving to think things over for a while. Goodbye." She took Wynter by the hand and skipped off outside.

"I don't like those two," Witchy sneered to moment they left. "They've been acting like a bunch a sourpusses since they've been guiding us throughout the region."

"Really?" Mr. Snowman asked, intrigued. Witchy nodded in response. "That's odd," He muttered under his breath, but unfortunately for him, everybody heard him.

"What's odd?" Witchy asked. "Those two are worse people than Taffyta."

"Hey, I take offense to that," Taffyta shot back. "But anyways, what's odd?"

Mr. Snowman sat down on a chair made of ice. "Willow and Wynter are nothing like you say they are," He confessed. "They may not be as nice as Mr. Artie, but they are still some of the kindest children I have ever seen, and that's surprising for two people who have been orphaned."

"WHAT?!" Everybody shouted in unison. "W-What's wrong?" Mr. Snowman asked. "Were the gingerbread cookies too hot?"

"Oh no, they're delicious," Witchy stated. "But, with all due respect, Willow is a sack of sh-"

"Hey, there are children here," Licorice interfered. Witchy turned her purple eyes to glare at her for a moment.

"...Anyways," She continued after a cold silence, "Willow, with all due respect, is a bad person. Wynter hasn't done anything particularly rude, but I don't trust a person who never speaks."

"He wasn't speaking?" Mr. Snowman muttered. "Wynter's one of the most talkative people I've ever had a conversation with."

"I have a hard time believing that," Witchy grumbled. "However, Licorice did catch those two talking to each other about you're little rampage earlier."

"For the last time, I did not attack you," Mr. Snowman disclaimed. "And when did you find them talking to each other?"

"When they thought nobody was watching them," Licorice explained before her eyes widened in shock as a realization set in. "Like they think nobody is watching them now."

Before anybody could stop her, Licorice bolted down the cave in the same direction the two twins had left.

"Licorice, wait!" Witchy shouted, but Licorice was long gone. "Oh bed knobs and broomsticks, now I have to get her out of trouble again."

Straightening her hat, Witchy darted towards the exit of the cave, with the other children following her, leaving Mr. Snowman alone in the cave.

"Don't take long!" He shouted after them. "These gingerbread cookies are getting cold!"

**(Scene Transition)**

Vanellope, the elves, the reindeer, and Santa Claus were all hiding down in the basement, shivering. Ever since the blizzard had struck and the snowstorm had entered the workshop, it had been pure mayhem.

The presents and the machines used to build them had all been damaged in the blowout. Dolls had been scattered on the floor in pieces. There was a large hole in the ground where the picture of the moon should be, allowing snow to pour into the basement. One of the female elves was clutching onto the sled chandelier, which had shattered after being bombarded with icicles. And only a few dozen elves had been able to reach the safety of the basement; most of the elves, including Mr. Short, had been overcome by the snowstorm and were trapped in ice all around the workshop, along with several reindeer.

"What have we done to deserve this?" Tom sobbed. "The workshop is in ruins and countless of our friends are all frozen in ice upstairs."

"What are we going to do?" Pointy panicked. Instantly, all of the elves that had made it into the basement started scurrying around the basement, screaming and shouting and banging on the walls.

"Let me out of here!" One cried.

"I want my mommy!" Another cried.

"We're doomed!" A third hollered.

"ENOUGH!" Santa shouted at the top of his lungs. Everybody quieted down.

"Look, if it makes you all feel better, I'll go out and confront Fannar and demand that he stop all of this nonsense," He said. All the elves nodded gratefully.

"But, how are you going to get out there?" Tom asked. "The blizzard may have subsided for the moment, but who's to say it won't start up again?"

Not wanting another ruckus, Santa came up with an idea fast. "I'll go get Rudolph," He suggested. "His bright red nose can guide me anywhere."

"YES!" All the elves shouted joyfully. Everybody started clapping and nodding their heads, until Pointy made the mistake of bringing up a most unfortunate occurrence.

"Rudolph isn't here," He admitted. Everybody instantly stopped cheering. "He went off looking for Willow and Wynter when they disappeared and nobody's seen him since."

Santa's eye twitched.

"WE'RE DOOMED!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. All of the elves started scattering around the place, screaming and complaining whining once more.

"Oh, brother," Vanellope muttered as she sat down and watched everybody panic with annoyance.

**(Scene Transition)**

Licorice was sprinting towards the exit of the cave. She could already here talking coming from Willow and Wynter. Smiling a bit, Licorice scooted behind a rock lying behind the opening of the cave.

Peaking out from behind the rock, Licorice could clearly see Willow and Wynter standing outside of the cave. Willow was talking to Wynter, and just as Licorice suspected, he was talking back.

"I just don't get it, Willow," Wynter admitted. "First Mr. Snowman acted friendly to me when I was out looking for you, then he attacks us during the blizzard, and now he's offering us gingerbread cookies. It just doesn't add up."

"I don't know, Wynter," Willow confessed. "It's just, things have been strange lately, and I'm so confused. The wolves were good animals but now they attack us, and then Mr. Snowman goes on a rampage, and even Mr. Artie tried to kill you."

"Mr. Artie?" Licorice whispered quietly. "That's the second time I've heard that name."

"Something odd is going on here, and I don't like it," Wynter continued to Willow. "If Fannar is corrupting everybody here, we're in terrible danger."

"What if everybody is getting frost bites?" Willow suggested.

"Frost bites?" Licorice mumbled under her breath, when suddenly she felt a hand grip her shoulder. Spinning around, she saw a furious Witchy.

"Licorice L. Liqued, you had better have a good reason for this!" She shouted. "Not so loud," Licorice whispered, but it was too late. Willow and Wynter turned around and saw the two just as the other children reached them.

"Why do keep on spying on us?" Willow shouted, piqued.

"Sorry about this, I just have a terribly nosy kid," Witchy apologized, holding Licorice's arm. "Hey, Wynter was talking again," Licorice revealed. Wynter froze in fear.

"What are you talking about?" Rancis asked. "Wynter is mute, he doesn't speak."

"Oh yeah, well I'll just prove he talks," Licorice vowed. Witchy crossed her arms, unconvinced. "Well, do it," She challenged.

"Um, Wynter, speak!" Licorice ordered. However. Wynter didn't say a thing. Licorice turned around to stare at Witchy, who rolled her eyes.

Edging over to Wynter, Licorice, whispered in his ear, "Look kid, if you don't open your mouth and say something, I'm probably going to win the award for craziest Sugar Rush racer ever. Please don't embarrass me in front of everybody." However, Wynter just shrugged as if he didn't know what to do.

After a tense silence from everybody, Licorice finally went with the next idea that popped into her head: She stomped on Wynter's foot hard.

Wynter opened his mouth in pain, but still nothing came out.

Licorice felt more humiliated them she had ever felt in her life.

"Clearly, this is a waste of time," Willow sneered. "Come on Wynter, let's hope those gingerbread cookies are still hot." Grabbing Wynter's hand, she dragged him towards the entrance of the cave when a roar pierced everybody's ears.

Everybody spun around in shock. It was a large, white polar bear, identical to the one that had attacked them earlier.

"Mr. Artie?" Willow asked, fear rising in her voice. The bear roared again, causing everybody to yelp in fear.

"Please don't eat us," Taffyta begged. The bear's eyes widened in shock and his jaw hung open.

"Eat you?" He asked. "I just wanted to give the liquorice girl a Christmas present from Santa Claus."

"...What?" Licorice asked. Mr. Artie pulled out a Christmas present and handed it to Licorice.

Licorice hesitantly took the present and read the card attacked to it. It read, 'From Santa, To Licorice.' Shrugging, Licorice opened the present to reveal a miniature toy kart, identical to her own kart at Sugar Rush.

"I'm...honoured," Licorice mumbled. "Well, goodbye you six," Mr. Artie said and turned around to leave.

"That was...weird," Licorice whispered when Taffyta screamed.

"Look, it's those wolves!" She shouted. Everybody turned around to see a pack of giant wolves standing in front of them.

The biggest wolf opened his mouth, causing everybody to scream. Rancis, however, took out a stick and whacked the wolf upside the head.

"Don't even think of eating us, fuzzy!" He threatened. The wolf then got on his hind legs and rubbed his sore head.

"What was that for?" The wolf asked. Rancis froze at the sight of the wolf talking, but he managed to get out a few obscene words.

"You see, uh, you were going to attack us, and..."

"We were just going to tell you to keep indoors," A second wolf revealed as he too got on his hind legs.

"What?" Rancis shouted in disbelief. "Yeah, a mighty blizzard has been wreaking havoc throughout this game, and we just wanted to warn you," The second wolf continued.

"But, you're feral wild animals," Taffyta butted in. The wolves gasped in shock.

"I will have you know, missy, that we wolves are more civilized than the likes of those elves and reindeer," The first wolf defended.

The children stood there, unsure of what to say.

"However," The wolf continued, "If you're just going to be a bunch of brats with no regard for our feelings, than we're off." The wolf turned to the rest of the pack and said, "Come on, guys, we don't have to put up with their crap."

The wolves mumbled in agreement and darted away from the children, shouting insults towards the six. The moment the wolves were gone, Licorice turned to the rest of the children and spoke four very clear, audible words:

"Guys, what's going on?"


	17. Brothers and Sisters

Santa's workshop was practically in ruins. Ever since the revelation that Rudolph was missing, everybody had panicked, even Santa Claus himself after he heard that his #1 reindeer was absent.

Elves were banging on the doors, screaming to be let out. Some of the reindeer were clawing at the wooden walls with their hooves, attempting desperately to break free. Presents and toys and ice sculptures were being tossed through the air and being smashed at the walls. Tim and Pointy were making a pitiful attempt to smash through the basement door, which had been frozen shut. Mrs. Claus was being used as a battering ram by eight elves to try and break through the walls. Santa himself was screaming loudly, shaking his fists in the air in anguish. It was more like a hell hole than a haven.

Vanellope was covering her ears, shaking in irritation at everybody's overreaction. Her eyes were shut tight and she was gnashing her teeth to keep from screaming.

And then one particularly zany elf smashed a portrait of a Christmas tree right on Vanellope's head.

"**ENOUGH!"**

Every head snapped over to Vanellope, who was standing on an unconscious elf, the portrait smashed right through her head. Her forehead was dripping with sweat and she was a bloody red, and her normally hazel eyes were practically glowing red.

"YOU! WACKJOBS! WILL! QUIET! DOWN!" She ordered, punctuating every word. Obeying her commands, the elves stopped banging on the walls and sat with their legs crossed. The eight elves dropped Mrs. Claus. Tim and Pointy climbed down the ladder. The reindeer sat on the ground like dogs. Santa, blushing in humiliation, slowly placed his hat back on his head.

"Now then," Vanellope started, calming down, "If you are all going to be a bunch of little crybabies, I guess I'll be off."

"But, your presidency," Tim objected, rising to his feet, "Where will you go out there with the wolves, and Fannar, and..."

"And the frostbites!" Pointy shouted, causing everybody to recoil in terror.

Vanellope just shrugged. "I don't know, where were you planning to go when you tried to break down the wall to escape?"

Several elves blushed, their pride tarnished.

"Look, you guys, I know you're scared of those wild animals and the ice conjurer, but I have a job to do," Vanellope exclaimed.

"What job?" Asked Mrs. Claus, who was still recovering after being smashed against a wall repeatedly.

"I'm going to find Fannar and tell him to stop unleashing those snowstorms, and then I'm going to find everybody who's been disappearing," Vanellope elucidated.

"But, you don't know the dangers of Fannar," Santa objected. "Who knows what could happen if you tried to confront him."

"Hey, do you know Fannar?" Vanellope asked. "You are his brother."

Santa lowered his head to the floor. "I'm afraid I don't, President Vanellope," He admitted drearily. "But you're siblings," Vanellope criticised. "How can you not know a thing about him?"

"Well, I was beamed up at the workshop with the elves and my wife and the two orphans, but Fannar and Mr. Artie and the wolves and the yeti were all beamed up in the outer regions of the game, along with..." Santa paused.

"Along with who?" Vanellope asked.

Santa eyes were still staring at the floor, and he eventually opened his mouth to answer, when the worst possible thing happened.

The basement door smashed open and snow and ice went pouring into the basement. Before anyone could say a word, several elves were engulfed in the snow. All Santa could do was shout "Not again!" Before being bonked upside the head with an icicle.

"Oh boy, I need to talk to Fannar immediately!" Vanellope said to herself as she dodged an icicle. Then, before anyone could say anything, she glitched out of the basement, leaving everybody to their temporary icy fates.

**(Scene Transition)**

"What do you mean, Mr. Artie didn't attack me?" Candlehead asked, somewhat angered. The moment Fannar had returned to the cave, Candlehead had asked him how his meeting with Artie had gone, and Fannar had claimed Mr. Artie's innocence.

"I told you, he's in the clear," Fannar replied. Candlehead narrowed her eyes. "But that thing attacked me!" She shouted. "How is he in the clear if he did that?"

Fannar shrugged. "I don't know, but he says he didn't do it, and I believe him."

"He's a bear," Candlehead groaned. "You can't trust him as far as you can throw him."

"Actually, once I did throw him," Fannar reminisced, chuckling a bit. "For such a big bear, he sure can be thrown far."

"Okay, so you can trust him as far as you can throw him, but so what?" Candlehead mumbled, exasperated. "He could still be lying."

"Oh please, I know a liar when I see one, and Mr. Artie is no liar," Fannar boasted. "And just what do you know about Mr. Artery?" Candlehead inquired, smirking.

"It's Mr. Artie, and I do know some things about him," Fannar responded. "For one, he wouldn't hurt anybody unless they tried to hurt somebody he cared about, and two, he is willing to put his life on the line for somebody he cares about, and three, he'll share things with people even if he doesn't particularly care about them, and four, he's the only guy in this whole place who doesn't think I'm evil."

"What do you mean, he's the only one who thinks you're not evil?" Candlehead asked. "I'm sure people think you're not evil. Like, um, Santa Claus! He's your brother, right? He must think you're not malevolent."

Fannar sighed. "My brother?" He asked. "I'm not certain we are. The thing is, everybody here absolutely despises me except for Mr. Artie. When I pass down the terrain and the wolves see me, they turn the other way, and the elves and reindeer practically flee for their lives when they here about me."

"But Santa must know you're different, right?" Candlehead asked nervously.

"I only had one encounter with him," Fannar mentioned, and then he shivered a bit. "Santa was flying his sleigh out over the sky, shouting merry things to everybody, until he saw me standing near a tree in the distance. It was then that he turned around and rode his reindeer all the way back to his workshop, and I swear I saw a twinge of fear in his eyes right as he saw me. It was then that I knew what Old St. Nick thought of his big brother."

"Oh," Was all Candlehead could say before she turned around, thinking of herself as a fool for even contemplating that somebody other than that bear thought of him as a friend.

"Um, you know what Candlehead, I'll just go out for a bit and see if Mr. Artie has anything else to say about the whole bear attack," Fannar suggested. Candlehead didn't respond, so Fannar slowly abandoned the cave, leaving Candlehead alone in the cave.

**(Scene Transition)**

"But I'm telling you, something mysterious is going on here," Licorice exclaimed to the kids and Mr. Snowman. The other children were as befuddled as she was. It was bewildering seeing these creatures that had previously attacked them now try to help them.

"Hey, I don't know what to think of the matter," Mr. Snowman admitted. "I mean, I've seen the wolves, and they were nothing like the monstrous killers you described them as."

"I know, I have an idea," Taffyta suggested. "They were only pretending to be friendly so we would let our guard down and give them the chance to attack us!"

"I don't know, those wolves seem legit," Mr. Snowman responded. Everybody turned to glare at him for a moment. Everybody except Wynter, who just sat on his bed, his back turned.

Rancis turned to stare at the apparently speechless child. Then, with nobody noticing him, he did a somersault towards Wynter, startling him a bit.

"Hi, Wynter," Rancis greeted. Wynter stared at him with his icy blue eyes but didn't say a word. Eventually, after a tense silence, he raised his hand and waved.

"I guess you don't talk very much," Rancis guessed. Wynter sighed and nodded, frowning.

"Well why not?" Rancis asked. "Mr. Snowman said you used to be very talkative."

Wynter shrugged and placed his head on his hands in a display of helplessness. Rancis sighed a bit and turned to leave before somebody else entered his mind.

"What about Willow, you're big sister?" He asked. At that moment he saw Wynter's pupils dilate slightly before Wynter jumped out of his bed, raced towards an icicle, grabbed it, and stabbed into the wall. However, nobody except Rancis noticed what he was doing.

Wynter started carving something into the wall with the icicle. Rancis struggled to see what he was carving. Finally, Wynter stood away from the wall to reveal the outline of a heart and Wynter frowning.

"Um," Rancis said as he tried to process what Wynter meant. Eventually, he realized what Wynter was trying to say. "Oh, I get it!" He exclaimed. "You have a love-hate relationship with your sister."

Wynter nodded and actually managed to smile.

"Isn't that a coincidence," Rancis said. "I have a sister back at Sugar Rush, and boy do we have a love-hate relationship. Though it's a bit one-sided as to who loves who and who hates who."

Rancis carved a question mark into the wall, as if beckoning Rancis to explain. The Reese boy sighed as bad memories entered his head.

"My sister, Creamy, was a psycho and a bully," Rancis confessed. "She killed my brother, turned us all into glitches once, seized control of Sugar Rush, and she temporarily killed a friend of mine named Adorabeezle."

Wynter grimaced a bit.

"And yet, despite everything, for some reason I kind of...of..." Rancis froze as he was unsure of what to say.

Wynter carved another heart in the wall.

"Yes, Wynter, I guess I still do care about her," He admitted. "Reminds me of something Creamy once told me. That no matter how many bad things she does, since she's family, I'll never stop caring for her. I guess she was right."

Wynter smiled a bit.

"I guess that's what happens when you have siblings," Rancis muttered. "You love them even if they hate you."

Just at that moment, everybody heard something drop near the entrance to the cave. Everybody froze.

"What was that?" Witchy asked. Willow got up and ventured out of the cave. "I'll see what it is," She reassured as she left the cave, leaving everybody alone.

"I don't like this," Licorice admitted. "Willow has no idea what's out there. What if it's a bear, or a wolf, or..."

"It's a hat!" Willow shouted from outside the cave. Licorice's eyes widened in embarrassment. Witchy called out, "What hat?"

Willow sprinted back into the cave, carrying a very familiar cap with a candle on it. It was none other than Candlehead's cap, previously blown off her head.

"Hey, I know that hat," Licorice said. "It belongs to Cake-head!"

"I thought her name was Candlehead," Willow muttered. "Licorice is a nick-namer, plain and simple," Witchy said. "Oh, I get it," Willow said. She turned to Licorice and said, "Well, looks like we're going on another adventure, Licky."

"Don't you ever refer to me as that again!" Licorice threatened, narrowing her eyes, though Willow took no notice.

"What adventure?" Witchy asked. "Well, if my calculations are correct, that hat was blown off in the direction of the eastern mountains," Willow hypothesised. "Therefore, Candlehead must be at the eastern mountains. So, we just have to go there to rescue her."

Wynter froze suddenly, and a glimmer of fear showed in his eyes. "What's wrong, Wynter?" Rancis asked. Before Wynter could do anything, Willow butted in and said, "You know what, Wynter has been having a very long, tiresome day. Maybe he should just stay here and sleep on it."

Wynter raised an eyebrow in confusion before Willow effortlessly picked him up and placed him back on the bed. Willow then placed a blanket over him and turned to leave with the rest of the group. Before she left, she turned around and whispered something to Willow:

"Sleep tight, don't let the frostbites bite."


	18. Wynter's Sudden Burst of Speech

The five children were travelling out of the cave. Willow was leading the group, minus Wynter, onto the wintery terrain. The ground was freezing up considerately under Willow's feet and started streaming over in Witchy's direction. Frost and ice started to cover Witchy's shoes.

"This place is so not my style," Witchy complained, shivering from the cold and hugging herself. "This is what Christmas is about? Man-eating wolves, forest destroying snowstorms, and a mentally disabled kid who can't talk!"

"Don't you talk about Wynter like that!" Licorice threatened. "I told you, he speaks! He just doesn't like showing it."

"You just don't understand Christmas like I do," Willow replied with a smug smirk on her face. "So what's it about, Willie?" Witchy asked, grinning.

"I'm going to ignore that disregard for pronunciations," Willow responded, not even bothering to turn around and stare Witchy in the eye. "You see, Witchy, Christmas is about being nice to others, becoming friends with others, and giving to others so you can ultimately use them for things."

"That doesn't sound very Christmas-y," Licorice stated. "Oh, what do you know about Christmas?" Willow scoffed. Licorice stopped in her tracks.

"Oh, was too harsh?" Willow asked. "Um, here, I'll just lend you my jacket so we can blow this whole thing over." She removed her jacket and threw it at Licorice, who caught it and stared at it awkwardly.

"You're not at all bothered by the cold?" Licorice asked. Willow just laughed. "I grew up in this game," She explained. "The cold doesn't bother me."

"A-Alright," Licorice stammered as she struggled to put on the jacket. Witchy smirked a bit.

"If Wynter saw you in that thing," She chuckled. Licorice glowered.

"Like it would matter!" She exclaimed. "After all, like you said, he can't talk!"

**(Scene Transition)**

"Wow, I can talk!" Wynter shouted, jumping out of his bed excitedly. Mr. Snowman shuffled around, holding a trey of gingerbread cookies, a look of confusion on his face.

"Of course you can talk," Mr. Snowman replied. "You're one of the most talkative people I know. What convinced you that you weren't?"

"Okay, the thing is, recently I haven't been able to talk except on occasion," Wynter explained. "Uh-huh," Mr. Snowman mumbled, pretending to listen.

"The thing is, it was like I got a speech impairment or something when I was with people, but when I was just with Willow, I could talk again," He continued. "But now, I can talk even though she's not here. It's like I've been cured or something."

"So, you can talk permanently?" Mr. Snowman asked cautiously. "Yes," Wynter responded. "And I'm just going to say it: Something weird is going on here!"

"No kidding," Mr. Snowman sarcastically replied.

"I'm serious!" Wynter exclaimed. "The unexpected attacks, the unreasonable blizzards, that girl who dresses as a Halloween person in a Christmas game, none of it makes sense."

"Maybe Fannar did it," Mr. Snowman reasoned. "No, that conclusion doesn't make much sense either," Wynter muttered. "I mean, the blizzards are definitely his doing, but my speech impediment, you're attack, and those wolves and Mr. Artie, he can't be responsible for all of it."

"Well what do you think?" Mr. Snowman asked. "I don't know, but Willow said something about going to the eastern mountains to find that Candle headed girl," Wynter responded. "And if what those elves said is true, that place is incredibly dangerous."

"And what makes them think that?" Mr. Snowman asked. "Well, Fannar lives there for one, but on another hand, Willow went in there and just barely came out in one piece," Wynter revealed.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Mr. Snowman asked. Wynter sighed.

"Willow left the workshop when the game was plugged in and ventured into the eastern mountains," He explained. "She wanted to explore the place, I guess. The elves said Fannar lived there, so I went there to bring her back to the workshop before something bad happened."

"So that was why you left the safety of the workshop," Mr. Snowman said.

"That was when I met you and Mr. Artie and the wolves. The wolves guided me to the eastern mountains and said they were going to check Frostbite Massif, the largest mountain in the entire game, to see if Fannar was hiding there. That's when Willow came back to me, safe and sound."

"So, what happened?" Mr. Snowman asked.

"A giant blizzard hit the place, sending wolves, yetis, elves, and reindeer all over the place," Wynter confessed. "I think I saw Rudolph flying through the air at the time. We were both nearly trapped in the snow, but Willow managed to get us to safety. Unfortunately, so many people were lost in the region."

"So, everybody's been acting mean because they were crushed by snow?" Mr. Snowman suggested.

"And now, Willow's leading those kids right back there," Wynter said. "And that's bound to end in trouble. So, if you excuse me, I'm off."

Wynter took off out of the cave exit and started strutting through the snow. However, he froze in his tracks.

A lone wolf was sitting in the snow, licking its paws.

"You know, I should probably apologize for Rancis and Taffyta's behaviour before," Wynter said to himself and walked over to the wolf, who barely acknowledged him.

"Hi Mr. Wolf," Wynter greeted. The wolf's ears perked up and his snout turned to face Wynter, and he snarled angrily. Wynter, oblivious to the wolf's threatening gesture, waved and said, "Look, Mr. Wolf, about Rancis hitting you with that stick, I apologize for that, he didn't mean it-"

"RRRAAWWRR!" The wolf growled and pounced towards Wynter, who was so shocked he barely had time to move out of the way.

The wolf went soaring towards him, paws stretched in front of him and jaws open, ready to deal the fatal blow.

But it didn't come.

Right as the wolf was mere inches away from Wynter's face, a giant club was swung through the air at the wolf. It smashed into the wolf's back while it was still in mid-air, causing it to growl in pain.

And that was when the most awe-inspiring sight happened before Wynter.

The wolf shattered into a million icy pieces. Shards of ice went flying in all directions and shattered into pieces on the ground. The wolf's head, bounced on the ground and rolled towards Wynter's feet before coming to a stop.

Wynter stared down at the decapitated wolf head, which slowly turned into ice. He then glanced up to see who had saved him. There, standing on his hind legs and holding the club in both paws, was one of the wolves from earlier.

"Well, that ends my list today," He said in a heavy British accent. "Hide silver objects, howl at the full moon, Whack-A-Wolf. I guess I can call that a night."

He slung the club over his shoulder and strode off, whistling a happy tune.

The moment the wolf was gone, Wynter picked up the ice wolf head, which was twisted into a look of horror. After a moment, the head then broke and ice clattered on the ground.

Wynter stared at his bare hands, then at the ice on the ground, before finally throwing back his head and shouting to the Heavens.

"WHAT'S GOING ON IN THIS PLACE?!"


	19. A Chillingly Unexpected Event

"Well, we're here," Willow said happily as she and the rest of the group stopped in front of a massive mountain made totally of ice. It is enormous. The rest of the mountains were all huge, but they weren't even half the size of the ice mountain.

Witchy looked up at the mountain, unconvinced.

"You want me to believe that this mountain is the one holding Fannar and Candlehead?" She asked. Willow nodded.

"It's called Frosty Massif," Willow revealed. "It's apparently the largest area in the entire game. I should know, I've been in it."

"You ventured inside Frosty Massif?" Licorice asked. "Yeah," Willow said proudly. "Beautiful, too, full of reflections to look at yourself in and gawk at how pretty you are."

Willow skipped off towards the mountain while the rest of the group stood still.

"Why isn't she the vainest little girl I've ever met?" Witchy muttered under her breath. "Witchy, isn't not nice to say things about people behind their back," Licorice scolded angrily.

"Sorry about that, but there are some things I can't resist doing," Witchy confessed.

"Hey, are you guys coming or not?" Willow asked from afar. Licorice looked over and saw Willow covering something with snow.

"Willow, what are you doing?" She asked. "I have to do something when you just stand there doing nothing," Willow answered. "Don't you want to rescue your Candle-headed girl?"

Taffyta nodded. Witchy shrugged and followed Willow, who grinned triumphantly. Licorice sighed and, taking Rancis by the arm, dragged him towards Willow.

"Come on, guys, let's see what awaits us in Frosty Massif!" Willow shouted as the group trudged over to the entrance of the mountain.

However, the moment everyone had disappeared inside, the snow that Willow had used to cover the unknown object melted to the ground, revealing what Willow had covered.

It was a sign. On it read:

**Frosty Massif: Beware of Frostbites!**

**(Scene Transition)**

Vanellope was practically dragging herself across the icy terrain. After entering the outer regions of the game, she suddenly got tired out. The ground had become even icier than usual and the skies had darkened considerately, obscuring her view. She would've glitched forward most of the time, but she had lost the urge to even do that.

After a while, Vanellope inevitably slipped on the icy floor and fell face-first on the ground. She went sliding a bit on the ground and came to a stop a few feet away from a river. After getting up, Vanellope shouted, "Witchy, I will kill you!"

"_Kill?"_

Vanellope froze in terror. She slowly turned around to see who had answered her statement. All she could see was a small forest in front of her. The forest was incredibly dark, so she could barely make out what was standing inside it.

"_Kill?" _The voice repeated. Vanellope could hear shuffling coming from inside the forest. She heard the padding of footsteps make their way towards her at an incredibly fast rate.

Vanellope started shaking out of anxiety. She knew how dangerous the creatures in the game could be, and she wondered what could come out now. Was it a wolf? A bear? Fannar?

Her question was soon answered when the mysterious figure revealed himself.

Vanellope's eyes widened in shock as she came face to face with a massive brown reindeer, towering over her. He had bright blue eyes and his nose was bright red.

"Rudolph?" Vanellope asked in disbelief. However, her shock turned to relief when she remembered how much Santa trusted that particular reindeer.

"Oh, am I glad to see you," Vanellope said joyfully. Rudolph said nothing, but continued to stare at Vanellope with his bright blue eyes. He had a blank expression on his face, showing neither happiness or anger.

Then, a group of elves raced out of the forest as well, giggling and laughing happily.

"Hey, guys!" Vanellope shouted gratefully. "You must be the elves that got lost in the blizzard. Did you escape Fannar or something?"

The elves said nothing but kept their bright expressions and wide grins as they and Rudolph continued to stare at Vanellope.

Vanellope placed a hand on Rudolph's snout and said, "Look, Rudolph, I have to go find Fannar, so I was thinking if you could direct me to his-"

Vanellope didn't get to finish.

In the blink of an eye, Rudolph threw his head back, knocking Vanellope straight into the air. She crashed on the icy floor and slid on the ground a bit. Dazed, Vanellope struggled to get up and saw Rudolph standing still once more.

"R-Rudolph?" Vanellope asked. Rudolph snorted angrily in response. He bared his teeth and his normally innocent blue eyes suddenly look piercing and cold. He stamped his hooves on the ground.

Vanellope looked around at the elves. Their expressions had changed as well. They were still smiling, but their eyes narrowed fiercely and their grin now looked malicious instead of reassuring.

The nearest elf stepped towards Vanellope, his grin widening with each step. When he was a few inches away form her, he reached out a hand.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Vanellope asked. The elf didn't respond with words, but with action.

He grabbed Vanellope's sneaker. Suddenly, a sharp pain struck Vanellope's foot, causing her to yelp in agony. Then she looked down at her boot, and her eyes widened in horror at what was happening.

Her sneaker started to turn to ice.

Vanellope didn't know what was happening. Ice started to expand around her sneaker and engulfed her shoe. Vanellope felt another sharp pain in her foot and instinctively removed her sneaker, leaving her barefoot. She looked down at her foot to see that a portion of her foot had turned to ice as well.

"What's happening to me?" Vanellope asked. She turned to stare at the elves, who were giggling mischievously. Vanellope started to edge away from them, fearful.

Rudolph snorted once more, and his lips peeled back to reveal razor-sharp fangs, causing Vanellope to gulp in terror.

And then Rudolph spoke.

"Kill..._her_."


	20. Frosty Massif

"Wait, kill?" Vanellope asked. She suddenly forgot that part of her foot was frozen as she saw Rudolph stamp his hooves on the ground and bare his fanged teeth angrily.

"Kill her!" He shouted once more, lifting his front feet up and howling in the air on his hind legs.

The elves nodded their heads eagerly and stomped forward, their mouths wide open to reveal their small, white teeth shift into that of large ice picks. Their small hands stretched forward, they charged at Vanellope, their eyes starting to glow blue.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" They chanted maliciously as they picked up speed and practically flew towards Vanellope. Rudolph opened his mouth and laughed maniacally before charging past the elves and towards Vanellope.

Vanellope instantly realized that she needed to get away from Rudolph and the elves, so she spun around and took off running.

"Kill her!" Rudolph shouted as he raced towards her.

Vanellope ran as fast as she could, but her partially frozen foot slowed her down somewhat. She could hear the loud laughter of the elves behind her and the clattering of feet, which urged her to run even faster.

Vanellope couldn't resist the urge to glance backwards. This proved to be a big mistake as she saw that Rudolph was only inches away from her, and all the elves were riding on him. Rudolph was grinning as he neared her and his eyes glowed brighter.

Vanellope screamed and glitched away from him. But when she turned around, she saw that he was still just as close as ever.

"Die...now," He whispered and head-butted her in the back. The force of the blow sent her flying several feet forward. She landed face-down on the ground and went tumbling down a cliff.

"Ouch!" Vanellope shouted as she bumped her head on the way down. She went tumbling down the cliff, smashing her face and hitting her legs and arms. As she neared the edge of the cliff, she glanced up to see Rudolph galloping down the hill without tripping at all.

Vanellope finally hit the bottom of the cliff and immediately picked herself up. Then she looked up and saw something in the distance.

Frosty Massif.

"That must be where Fannar is holding the others," Vanellope mumbled to herself before turning around and witnessing Rudolph and the elves come to a stop in front of her.

"Kill her," He ordered to the elves.

However, before they could jump off of him, Vanellope shouted, "Not today!" And grabbed a large stick before smashing it on Rudolph's head.

But the moment the stick made contact with Rudolph, it turned to ice. Vanellope dropped the frozen in shock and disbelief and looked up to see a grinning Rudolph.

"What the heck?" Vanellope asked to herself as she took a step backwards.

**(Scene Transition)**

"Wow, this place is amazing," Licorice said in astonishment as she looked around. Willow had led them inside Frosty Massif, and the area was covered in icy reflections, just as Willow had said. In fact, reflections was all there were in the place. Even the ground was essentially a mirror to look at themselves in.

"Hey, look at me," Witchy said as she stared at herself. "Aren't I gorgeous?"

"And she said I was vain," Willow muttered. "You...heard that?" Licorice asked. Willow nodded before shouting out, "Hey, we came here to rescue Candlehead, not look at our reflections."

"Wait, what?" Rancis asked in disbelief. "But I didn't have time to compliment my good looks."

Licorice grabbed Rancis by the ear and said, "Oh, don't be such a baby." She then dragged him off to follow the group.

"You know, I can see why Fannar wants to live here," Rancis said the moment Licorice let go of his ear. "He gets to look at himself in the mirror whenever he wants."

"This place is so you," Licorice replied. Taffyta smirked.

"If only Vanellope was here now," Rancis said. "Too bad she's still with those grumpy elves."

"Yes, grumpy elves," Willow muttered from a distance. "In fact, grumpy is all I know from them."

"What are you talking about, Willow?" Witchy asked.

Willow sighed. "The only times I've met the elves is under hostile environment," She stated. "In fact, I've only ever met them twice, the first time when me and Wynter returned to the workshop and then when I returned again to drop off Vanellope."

"I told you, this Christmas game is not Christmas-y," Witchy snorted.

Willow sighed and stared at the floor for a moment before looking up and saying, "Hey, look! The chamber room!"

The group came to a stop. From a small entrance they witnessed the largest room they had ever seen in their entire lives. It was five times as large as the workshop, and twice as large as Vanellope's entire kingdom.

"This place is humongous!" Licorice shouted as she jumped into the air. "And dull," Witchy reminded. It was then that the group noticed that, aside from its mass, the chamber room was really identical to the rest of the area. The entire area was nothing more than a giant mirror.

"You know, when you think about it, this place is actually kind of boring," Witchy said, folding her arms. "It's just a bunch of reflections and nothing more."

"Oh, don't be so easily disinterested," Willow responded. "This place is a lot of fun once you really spend time in it."

"I thought we were looking for Cake-head," Licorice said. "Oh we are, I just want to do a thorough check in case we run into Fannar," Willow replied.

"Well, as long as we're here, at least we can look at our reflections again," Rancis suggested and sprinted into the chamber room while Licorice rolled her eyes.

Instantly, everybody else darted into the chamber room to ogle at themselves and compliment their looks.

"Hey, guys, I thought we were looking for Cake-head!" Licorice reminded. Nobody paid any attention to her.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Willow standing back, smiling. And then she noticed something preternatural.

"Willow, you don't have a reflection," She said. It was then that everybody turned to look at Willow, who had a look of discomfort on her face. Indeed, out of everybody there, she had no reflection.

"Huh?" She turned to look at the wall to see if Licorice was telling the truth, and gasped when she saw that she had no reflection.

"Willow, what's going on?" Taffyta asked nervously.

"I-I don't know," Willow replied, wringing her hands fearfully.

Then, a new sound filled everybody's ears, one that made them forget about Willow's lack of a reflection.

It was crying.

"Hey, I think that's from Candlehead," Willow suggested. "Really?" Licorice asked. "That doesn't sound like her crying."

"Well, let's just see what it is," Willow replied. "Come on!" She grabbed Licorice by the arm and ran off towards the exit of the chamber room, followed by the rest of the group.

**(Scene Transition)**

Vanellope was practically running for her life now. After her failed counterattack against Rudolph, she suddenly realized she was in even bigger danger than ever.

Frosty Massif was in view, but she was started to tire out. However, Rudolph and the elves were not beginning to lose stamina. In fact, they were running as fast as ever now.

"Die, girl!" Rudolph bellowed as he rammed into her once more. She was sent flying through the air and crashed into a wall. She tumbled to the ground, exhausted.

"She's ours, now!" One of the elves cackled as they wandered towards her. However, Rudolph had actually done more good than harm as him ramming into Vanellope had actually sent her flying into the wall of Frosty Massif.

Vanellope got to her feet and faced the psychotic reindeer and malevolent elves. She was panting heavily and she was in pain from her recent injuries, but she still stood standing.

"Let's get her!" An elf shouted and pounced towards Vanellope, arms stretched forward. But Vanellope was ready. When the elf was a few inches away, Vanellope punched the elf right in the face, sending him flying into a group of other elves.

"Ouch!" Vanellope shouted and she grabbed her arm in pain. She then looked at her fist to see that it had totally turned to ice.

"What's up with this game?" She shouted. However, her new wound distracted her from her assailants, and Rudolph took the opportunity to charge at her.

He rammed right into Vanellope's chest, sending the small girl flying backwards. She crashed into the wall of Frosty Massif with a sickening thud.

The elves cackled joyously until they heard a crack. It was from the wall. The moment Vanellope had struck the wall, it started to break out of pressure, creating a small hole.

"No, get her!" Rudolph shouted. But it was too late.

With a shriek, Vanellope slipped and fell into the hole and plummeted deep into the mountain, her scream echoing throughout the mountain.

**(Scene Transition)**

Coincidentally, Willow was leading the group to the bottom of Frosty Massif as well. There was a long flight of stairs made of ice. Occasionally, the children slipped on the ice, but Willow always kept perfect balance.

The crying had been growing even louder the more the group had ventured downwards.

"Frosty Massif sure is creepy down here," Licorice muttered. And it was true. The deeper the children got to the bottom of the mountain, the darker the area got. Also, there were ice picks and jagged stalagmites poking out of the ceilings and the walls.

"Oh, don't worry about it," Willow reassured. "It's not so creepy once you spend time in it."

Licorice was about to respond when Willow clasped a hand around her mouth.

"Look, we're here," Willow announced once they reached the bottom of the stairs. She pointed her finger in the direction of another entrance.

At the opening of the entrance was yet another room. It was nowhere near as large as the chamber room, but there was just something more fascinating about it.

It was incredibly damp, and water occasionally dropped from the ceiling. There were stalagmites poking from the walls, which caused everyone except Willow to shiver with fright. Unlike the other rooms in Frosty Massif, there were no reflections. But that was not the most intriguing thing about the room.

At the center of the room were a pile of ice statues. They were all of creatures and people.

"Wow," Licorice whispered, entranced. "Those statues are all so life-like."

"This is my favorite place in the whole massif!" Willow shouted. "You just want to stay here and admire how realistic these statues are."

The children walked towards the statues to see what they looked like.

"Hey, that one looks like an elf," Rancis mentioned, pointing down at the statue of an elf.

"Look over there," Licorice added. "That one looks just a reindeer." She pointed at a large reindeer, which was on its hind legs, its front legs high in the air.

"Whoa, look at this!" Witchy shouted. The children looked over to where she was. Witchy was standing near the statue of a large wolf, its jaws hanging open and on its hind legs, just like the reindeer.

"That looks like one of the wolves who attacked us," Licorice pointed out. Witchy and Taffyta nodded.

Rancis was the only one uninterested in the statues. "Hey, guys, if you haven't noticed, we have to find Candlehead," He reminded. "Oh yeah," Licorice muttered.

"Rancis is right, guys," Willow said, entering the room. "We should leave."

Nobody noticed it, but the moment Willow entered the room, the loud crying had suddenly come to a stop.

Willow grabbed Witchy and Licorice and dragged them away. The others instinctively followed them.

However, Willow stopped at the exit of the room. She let go of Witchy and Licorice, who turned to stare at her.

"Willow, aren't you coming?" Rancis asked. "I'll join you guys afterwards," Willow said. "I promise."

Rancis nodded and the group started to sprint upstairs.

The moment they were gone, Willow heard a thud behind her. Spinning around in shock, Willow saw Vanellope lying on the ground, rubbing her throbbing head.

"Vanellope, what are you doing here?" Willow asked, dumbfounded.

"Rudolph the Psychotic Reindeer attacked me and my foot and my hand got frozen in the assault," Vanellope quickly explained. Willow nodded her head.

"What are you doing in here, anyways?" Vanellope then asked.

"I was looking for your friend and I just assumed she would be in here," Willow muttered indignantly.

"What is this place?" Vanellope asked. "It's called Frosty Massif," Willow answered. "Oh, and I have something to show you."

Taking Vanellope by the hand, Willow dragged her outside of the room and pointed at a reflection.

"Look at it," Willow said. "What do you see?"

Vanellope looked into the reflection. "I see myself, and that's it," She replied. "That's good," Willow responded. "Also, there's someone I want you to meet."

Willow dragged Vanellope back to the statue room. "Hey, these statues look familiar," Vanellope muttered. "I know," Willow answered. "Especially this one."

Willow pointed Vanellope in the direction of one statue standing far away from the others. Vanellope instinctively edged nearer to the statue, and her eyes widened in shock when she saw who the statue was.

It was a statue of Willow.

"Do you like it?" Willow asked. "I made it myself."

"It's...beautiful," Vanellope complimented before she noticed something odd.

She looked at the Willow statue's face and noticed her expression. The Willow statue's face was hanging open and her eyes were wide with fright. Vanellope also noticed that the statue's arms were raised as if to shield herself.

"That's an odd way to create a statue," Vanellope whispered to herself. And then the creepiest thing happened.

The eyes of the Willow statue moved and stared at Vanellope. Vanellope screamed and jumped away.

"What just happened?" She asked nobody in particular.

"_Destiny."_

Vanellope froze at the single word spoken. However, before she could turn around, she was jabbed in the temple by Willow.

"Ow!" Vanellope shouted. And as Vanellope turned to stare at Willow, she felt something expand around her neck.

Vanellope felt her neck and her pupils shrunk when she felt nothing but smooth ice. Then she looked at her hands and saw they were turning to ice as well.

"What's happening?" Vanellope asked Willow, looking up to stare at her. And then she saw Willow's eyes glow blue.

"_Destiny," _Willow repeated, and she smiled, revealing her teeth to be ice picks.

Vanellope began to scream in pain as she felt her whole body turn to ice. But after a moment, nothing came out. 'Willow' smiled as she stroked the Vanellope statue, whose face was twisted into that of horror, just like the Willow statue.

'Willow' then turned to the Willow statue.

"_Goodnight," _She whispered as her eyes returned to normal and her teeth became regular. She then turned around and exiting the room.

And as she left, the reflection of Vanellope suddenly jumped out of the wall and followed her, a mischievous grin on her face.

The moment they were gone, the Willow statue did something unheard of with statues.

A tear streamed out of her eye and down her cheek.


	21. Wynter's Investigation

"Where's Willow?" Witchy asked impatiently, tapping her foot on the icy ground. "She said she'd be here by now."

"Well, maybe she was caught up looking at her reflection," Rancis suggested. Everybody stared at him, aggravated. "It's possible," He muttered, somewhat embarrassed.

"Idiot, if you're brain cells weren't shut off like they always were, you'd remember that Willow doesn't have a reflection," Witchy reminded, frustrated. Rancis made a 'Oh yeah,' expression before saying, "What was up with that anyways?"

"Maybe native characters simply don't have reflections," Licorice suggested. Witchy rolled her eyes, irritated, when they heard footsteps. The children turned around.

Sure enough, Willow was scampering down the snowy hill leading to Frosty Massif, heading towards the group. And somebody else was right behind her.

"Hey, it's Vanellope!" Rancis shouted.

"_In the flesh,"_ Vanellope said in a voice that sounded like that of an adult instead of a young girl. "Hey, what's with your voice?" Witchy asked.

Vanellope coughed a bit and muttered, "I got a bad taste of frostbite."

"She sure did," Willow added. "What is she doing here?" Licorice asked. "I thought we dropped her off at the workshop."

Willow just shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she got out at one point during Fannar's blizzard. But anyways, we should be going. We have to find your friend, right?"

"Why, of course," Witchy muttered. She secretly couldn't care less what happened to Candlehead, but she just wanted to make Licorice happy, so she went along with it.

"Luckily, I know where Fannar's hideout is," Willow suggested. Suddenly, everybody started glaring at her once more, with the exception of Vanellope.

"W-What?" She asked, confused. "If you knew where Fannar was, why did you lead us to a totally different mountain?" Witchy asked, irritated. Willow shrugged. "My brain was asleep," She muttered indignantly.

"Like it always is!" Witchy shouted. Rancis jumped between the two instantly. "Hey, you two, cut it out!" He demanded. "The enemy is Fannar, not Willow, now let's get off our butts and find Candlehead and everybody else he's trapped here!"

Witchy stared at the Reese boy with pure hatred, but then she looked at Licorice, who stared back at her with begging eyes, and she sighed and said, "Rancis is right. Let's find Candlehead and get out of here."

Willow then marched off in the direction of a second ice mountain, the second largest one in the region. There was a large entrance in it.

"Fannar lives in there?" Licorice asked. "Yes, and we have to hurry before he causes another blizzard," Willow grumbled, exasperated. "Now let's hurry up and find your friend."

**(Scene Transition)**

"Candlehead?" Fannar asked. The green-haired young girl skipped over to the large man. "Yes, Fannar?" She answered politely.

"The blizzard has stopped, you can leave if you want," He muttered.

"It...has?" Candlehead asked. Fannar nodded. "You can go now," He repeated.

"But, can't I stay longer?" She asked. Fannar shook his head. "Your friends are probably worried sick for you," He reminded. "It would be selfish to keep you from them."

Candlehead started searching for other excuses to stay, but she could only think of one: "You're causing these snowstorms, can't you start up another one so I can stay?"

"I can't do that," Fannar admitted. "Why not?" Candlehead whined, stomping on the floor.

"Because I wasn't causing these blizzards," He confessed. Candlehead felt like she had been punched in the face. "But, but, but if you weren't causing these blizzards, _who was_?" She stammered, frightened.

"I...don't know," Fannar admitted. "But never mind that, you should be leaving now."

"...Okay, Mr. Claus," Candlehead finally conformed. Her head hanging low, she wandered slowly out of the cave. She then heard Fannar sigh.

"What was that?" She asked. "I didn't say anything," Fannar replied. "Oh yeah," Candlehead moaned. "Okay, I guess I'll be leaving now."

She stalked out of the cave, miserable.

Soon, she was outside of the cave, and still facing the ground, she plodded down the mountain, saddened.

And in her dismal state, she didn't notice the six children heading up the hill to rescue her. And in a horrible twist of fate, neither did they.

They just galloped up the mountain right past the gloomy girl, scarcely noticing her.

**(Scene Transition)**

Wynter was trekking towards Frosty Massif.

"I have to stop Willow before she gets herself and everybody else in danger," He said to himself as he started running towards the mountain. He, of course, was unaware that Willow and the rest of the children had already left the mountain.

He stopped right in front of the entrance to the mountain. A chill ran up his spine as he swore he heard a sound coming from inside the cave.

It sounded like laughter.

Nevertheless, he shook his said and said, "I'm not afraid!"

"_Afraid?"_

Wynter froze in terror at the response. He wrung his hands and stared at the floor, but finally mustered up the courage the enter into Frosty Massif.

Nothing had truly changed from last time. The area was still just one big reflection, with whoever walking inside of it instantly witnessing hundreds of reflections of themselves staring right back.

Wynter shook. For some reason, there was something unsettling about the cave to him. Maybe it was all those eyes staring at him. Maybe it was the fact that he was a very small person in a very big place. Or maybe he was just thinking about the voice that spoke to him.

"_Oh Wynter."_

Willow, actually entranced by the voice, started to walk in the direction of it.

"_Wynter Winterson."_

Wynter stopped walking and froze once more. Nobody except Willow had ever referred to him by his full name before. Somebody who knew him was inside the cave, and he wanted to find out. So he pressed on in the direction of the voice.

Soon, he was in a dark area, with stalagmites poking from the ceilings and walls. There was only one clear reflection in the room. And it was that of Wynter himself, staring at him.

Intrigued, Wynter took a step forward to the reflection. Oddly enough, the reflection did not move forward, but just stood there with its arms folded. Wynter was mystified but he continued to approach the reflection.

Soon enough he was right in front of the reflection. He stared hard at the reflection, and somewhat struck him as odd.

The reflection was smirking at him.

Wynter knew very well that he himself was not smirking, but frowning. It was like the reflection had a mind of its own.

And then the reflection opened its mouth and growled, _"Wynter."_

Wynter yelped in surprise and stumbled backwards, tripping on an on icicle that had broken off and fallen on the ground. He crawled away from the reflection in terror.

And then the reflection reached forward and its hand burst out of the reflection. And just as it did, its hand turned to ice. Wynter could do nothing but look on in horror as the reflection smashed its way out of the wall and fell to the ground.

The reflection looked like an ice statue version of Wynter, being made of silvery coloured ice. It looked unconscious, so Wynter took the time to get up and stare at it for a moment. When the reflection did nothing, he reached forward and poked its icy head.

Just at that moment, the ice Wynter's head rose off the ground and stared at Wynter. His eyes were glowing blue and his teeth were tooth picks. Wynter screamed in terror and jumped backwards.

The ice Wynter slowly got to his feet, and as he did, his nails grew into long icicles, and his toes grew into long stalagmites. Wynter groaned in horror.

As the ice Wynter stared at him, his appearance shifted, and his claws and stalagmite toes retracted into normal fingers and toes, and his eyes became a regular shade, and his teeth shrunk to normal and his skin and hair became the same as Wynter.

Soon, he looked just like Wynter did,

Wynter stared at his clone in absolute confusion. The other Wynter stared back. They stared hard at each other until the ice Wynter finally spoke.

"_Wynter Winterson, the end is coming for all of you."_


	22. Finding Wynter

"This is where the ice sorcerer resides," Willow said to the other children. They had reached the entrance of Fannar's cave, and Willow and Vanellope were standing in front.

"Now remember, we have to be careful when we confront him," Willow reminded. "He is extremely dangerous, especially to people not of this game like you."

"We know, let's get on with this," Witchy moaned. "It's not like we have all day."

"Sure thing," Willow muttered, annoyed. "Come on, let's take this wizard and his blizzard down!" She strode into the cave fearlessly, along with the rest of the group.

The cave ceiling was dripping with water, and icicles were pointing in all directions. Taffyta wasn't watching where she was going and an icicle poking from the wall scraped her cheek.

"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" She asked, rubbing her sore cheek. "Are you sure you're not a whiny brat?" Willow mocked. Taffyta grumbled under her breath.

Willow effortlessly broke a large icicle off from the wall. "Just in case things get ugly," She reassured the group.

"Too bad I didn't bring my magic wand," Witchy lamented. "Wait a minute, you have a magic wand, and you didn't bring it here?" Willow asked in disbelief.

"I keep it in my house," Witchy admitted. "A shame really," Willow said. "Then I could of taken that wand and used it for myself!"

"Excuse me?" Witchy asked, perplexed. Willow realized what she just said and immediately added, "Which I would never to, of course."

Witchy was about to say something in response, but then she saw a large shadow in the distance.

"It's him!" She shouted. "It's Fannar the ice sorcerer!"

"I knew it," Willow shouted. "Ice conjurer, reveal yourself right now!"

For a moment, nobody moved. Then, Fannar shifted into view, profoundly confused.

"C-Candlehead?" He assumed. "No, it's me, Willow Winterson, and I've come to stop your evil plan," Willow announced.

Fannar was even more puzzled. "What evil plan?" He asked. Willow pointed an accusing finger at him. "Don't act all innocent, I know what you're planning," She indicted.

"Then what is it?" Fannar asked. Willow shrugged. "I don't know, but it must be evil!" She accused. "I know this because you abducted Candlehead!"

"But I let her go," Fannar said. "We're not fooled by your lies!" Rancis shouted. "I'm way too smart for that."

"Rancis is right, you expect us to believe you're deception?" Taffyta butted in.

"You see?" Willow smirked. "Nobody believes you."

Willow turned to the angered children and shouted, "Guys, seize him!"

**(Scene Transition)**

Candlehead, of course, was not being held captive by anyone. She was strolling through the snow, still somewhat depressed at the events that had just transpired. That is, until something caught her attention.

"My candle!" She shouted excitedly. Sure enough, Willow had left her candle in the snow a few feet away from Frosty Massif. The cake-themed girl skipped happily towards her previously lost cap. Scooping it up, she snapped her fingers and the candle was lit on fire.

"That's better," She said. She then turned around and was about to leave when she heard a scream. It was coming from inside Frosty Massif.

"What the cherry bombs was that?" She asked. She then noticed the entrance to Frosty Massif. "Oh, Taffyta better not have gotten herself in trouble again," She grumbled as she took off inside of the mountain.

**(Scene Transition)**

Of course it wasn't Taffyta screaming. It was Wynter. How Candlehead confused the two voices was beyond anybody's guess.

"Stay away from me!" Wynter shouted to the doppelganger. The ice Wynter had advanced towards him, his arm stretched out to grab him. His fingers had transformed into icicles once more as he reached forward.

"_You can't fight fate, Wynter Winterson," _Ice Wynter moaned as his teeth grew into fangs and his yes started glowing blue.

"I said get back!" Wynter shouted defiantly. However, the ice Wynter persisted and surged forward, latching onto Wynter's jacket. The young boy screamed in agony and glanced down to see that his jacket was turning to ice. Instinctively, he ripped his jacket off, which crashed to the floor and shattered into a million pieces.

"What are you?" Wynter asked the ice Wynter, which was still advancing towards him.

"_I'm..._you." The ice Wynter said, and he suddenly sounded like a regular boy instead of an aging man.

Wynter, out of the corner of his eye, saw a large icicle, and immediately lunged towards it, scooping it off the ground.

"No you're not!" He shouted and slammed the icicle over the ice Wynter's head. However, to his shock, the ice Wynter barely flinched and the icicle broke into a million pieces. Wynter dropped the edge of the icicle to the floor in shock, and glanced down at it for a moment before looking up to see the ice Wynter, grinning maliciously.

Wynter took a step backwards and slipped on the ice, crashing to the ground. He lay on the floor, dazed, as the ice Wynter surged towards him.

Wynter could only look up in horror as the ice Wynter opened his mouth, revealing rows of sharp fangs. He bent down, but Wynter unexpectedly grabbed a sharp of the broken icicle and stabbed ice Wynter in the mouth.

Ice Wynter jumped back in shock, the sharp of ice still lodged in his mouth. Wynter sprung to his feet and noticed that the shard of ice was sticking out of the back of the ice Wynter's head, and shivered in horror before turning around to flee. It was then that he came face-to-face with a familiar sight.

"Licorice?" He asked, confused. Indeed, Licorice, or at least it looked like Licorice, was standing in front of him, her arms crossed. Then, Witchy, Rancis and Taffyta shuffled out from behind the walls.

"Oh, I'm glad to see you guys," Wynter said in relief. "Look, I don't know what's happening, but a copy of me is stalking me throughout the cave, and I need your help to, stop him or something."

The Licorice girl said nothing, but instead she pointed her finger at Wynter and her index finger transformed into a dagger, which she jabbed in Wynter's direction. He ducked in shock as the dagger finger smashed into the wall.

"Kill him," The Witchy girl uttered.

"...Oh, frostbite," Wynter whispered in horror as realization dawned upon him. The ice Licorice transformed her hand into a scythe and swung it at Wynter, but he narrowly dodged. He kicked the ice Licorice in the leg as a reflex, but his shoe turned to ice upon contact.

The ice Licorice swung the scythe at Wynter once more, and this time she scratched his sleeve. Wynter moaned in pain and the ice Witchy transformed her hand into an ice mallet and slammed it into his side, sending him flying several feet into a wall.

Wynter groaned in agony as the ice children slowly advanced towards him, all walking in the same line, their hands turned into icicles.

Wynter struggled to get to his feet as the ice Wynter slowly reached towards him, a large grin on his face.

"_Goodnight, Wynter Winterson," _He whispered as he was inches from Wynter.

Suddenly, however, a new voice entered everybody's ears:

"Say goodnight to who? I thought it was just the afternoon."

Everybody spun around in shock. Standing a few feet away from the ice children, an innocent smile on her face and a cap with a candle on her head, was Candlehead.

The ice children glanced up at the flaring candle on her head for one moment, and instantly they all let out a simultaneous scream of horror. Then, before Candlehead could do anything, they took off down the icy hallways.

"What was that about?" Candlehead asked as she helped Wynter to his feet. "I don't know, but something tells me they'll be back," Wynter said. "Who are you, by the way?"

"Me?" Candlehead asked. "Why, you can call me Candlehead."


	23. Candlehead Found

Santa's workshop was in total chaos, even moreso than before.

Half of the workshop had been totally obliterated, and was now lying in a giant pile of ice right next to the still-standing part of the building. On the ground, elves and reindeer were encased in blocks of ice, rendered unable to move.

Even the part of the workshop that was still mostly intact had experienced major constructional damage during the blizzards it had experienced throughout the day.

All the windows had been destroyed, and the elves that had not frozen over were taking the opportunity to scramble through the windows and scatter off into the forests and the outer regions.

As all the elves panicked, Santa burst out through the wall of the workshop. Instantly, the once-stable building crashed to the ground.

"Wait, listen all of you!" He shouted. Instantly, half of the elves fell back into order and grouped together in front of him; the other half had already taken off and were too far away to hear him.

"Look, my pointy-eared friends, I know Fannar has been causing a lot of trouble lately, but we need to remain calm and deal with this issue," Santa demanded. Some of the elves nodded in agreement, but quite a few were still uncertain.

"But boss, that will never happen as long as Fannar keeps sending these blizzards," Mr. Short reminded. Some of the elves mumbled in agreement, and Santa started pondering a response to this.

"You know what?" Santa said. "I'll deal with Fannar myself." Some of the elves gasped in shock.

"But he'll kill you," Mr. Short stated. "I'm in my own game," Santa reminded. "I'll regenerate."

The elves were still unsure. "But he could still freeze you in a block of ice, and you'll be immobile," Mr. Short mentioned.

"I can handle it," Santa reassured the elves. With that, he turned around to leave.

"WAIT!"

Santa spun around in shock to see Mrs. Claus, hobbling towards him on her cane, her blue eyes full of determination.

"If you're going to face off against your big brother, I'm coming to assist you," She stated firmly.

Santa was wide eyed in shock. "But honey, how could you help?"

"Face it, you big lug, when you have all of us by your side, we can accomplish anything," Tom said courageously. Some of the elves nodded.

"But..." Santa said but paused as he didn't know what else to say.

"Face it, St. Nick, we're coming with you," Mrs. Claus firmly stated. After a long tension, Santa Claus sighed heavily and gestured for his wife and the elves to follow him towards Fannar's lair.

**(Scene Transition)**

"Wait, you're name is Candlehead?" Wynter asked. Candlehead nodded cheerfully. "I even have the candle cap to prove it," She responded, removing her helmet to show to him.

"Okay, I'll remember that," Wynter replied sarcastically. "But, from what I remember, you're the girl those other children were looking for, right?"

"Other kids?" Candlehead. "Oh, you mean Vanellope and Taffyta. Yeah, I figured I was too important for them not to look for."

"In that case, THAT MEANS I FOUND YOU!" Wynter shouted unexpectedly and hugged Candlehead, much to her shock.

"Hey, watch the candle," She said and lightly shoved Wynter away. "Sorry about that, but this is so great!" Wynter shouted. "Finally, I have one issue off my back so we can deal with the other, bigger issue."

"What are you talking about, snow boy?" Candlehead asked. "And why did Rancis, Taffyta, Licorice, Witchy, and other you try to attack you?"

"That's...the bigger issue," Wynter said. "We've been constantly getting attacked by wild animals, but afterwards, those same wild animals would act like our friends. It just doesn't add up."

"Hey, now that you mention, the big bad bear attacked me once, but my new friend said that he's a big good bear," Candlehead mentioned.

"And who's that?" Wynter asked. "Fannar," Candlehead said bluntly.

"WHAT?!" Wynter shouted so loud the mountain shook and Candlehead tumbled onto the ground.

"W-What's wrong?" Candlehead asked, confused. "Fannar is the worst person you could possibly befriend!" Wynter shouted.

"Why?" Candlehead asked, somewhat offended. "Because he's been causing all these blizzards," Wynter responded.

Candlehead raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean he's been causing all these blizzards?"

"Ever since I found Willow back in Frosty Massif these snowstorms have been totally trashing the place. And there's only one person I know who can cause blizzards, and that's Fannar!" Wynter exclaimed.

"Do you even know the guy?" Candlehead asked. "I mean, I met him, and he seems pretty tragic to me. Everybody hates him."

"And for good reason," Wynter said. "He..."

Wynter suddenly stopped talking when he heard a sound in the distance. "Hey, do you hear that?" Candlehead asked. "Be quiet," Wynter whispered as he listened closer to the sound.

It was crying.

"That crying...it sounds so familiar," Wynter mumbled. "We have to find where it's coming from."

"Hey look, a convenient flight of stairs leading to where that crying sound is," Candlehead told Wynter, pointing to the convenient flight of stairs leading to where the crying sound is.

"Good job, Candlehead," Wynter complimented. "Now let's find that voice."

Wynter grabbed Candlehead by the arm and sprinted down the stairs with her. At the speed he was going, he should have slipped down the icy stairs, but for some reason he didn't.

It wasn't long before the two reached the end of the stairs. It was the same area that Willow had brought the group previously, and where she had transformed Vanellope into an ice statue.

"Wow, look at all these statues," Candlehead said to Wynter, tugging on his jacket. "There's one of a yeti, and a reindeer, and some elves, and even two children."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Wynter mumbled, obviously uninterested. "I just have to find whoever is crying." Instantly, the sobbing increased.

"Is anybody here?" Wynter asked. The crying simply grew louder. "I swear I recognize that voice," Wynter whispered to Candlehead. "I have to find it."

"Oh, well you look for that while I study the statue that bears an uncanny resemblance to Vanellope," Candlehead mentioned.

"Wait, Vanellope?" Wynter asked. "Yeah, this statue looks just like you, except it's a statue," Candlehead said.

Wynter took off towards the statue and his eyes widened in shock as he realized that it did indeed look just like the president of Sugar Rush.

"That's odd," Wynter said. But then something even odder happened.

The Vanellope statue started to melt.

"What the cupcakes is going on?" Candlehead asked in disbelief and jumped backwards. Instantly, the ice covering Vanellope became solid once more.

"Wait a minute, Candlehead, come closer to the statue," Wynter urged. After a moment, Candlehead obeyed and edged over to the statue. Instantly, the Vanellope statue melted once more.

"It's your candle!" Wynter realized. "It's melting the ice."

Soon enough, Vanellope was standing in a puddle of water, totally soaked.

"I've been having a bad day," She muttered. She then noticed Candlehead and shouted, "Candlehead! We found you!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Candlehead said in the same tone Wynter had said to her previously. "But we have more important things to deal with. Like this guys crying fetish."

"No, somebody here is crying, and I have to find who it is," Wynter explained. "And it's getting louder by the second."

Indeed, the crying was increasing in sound rapidly. Wynter quite honestly felt like he was standing right next to whoever was sobbing. And then he turned around, and saw that he was.

The Willow statue, the look of horror still on her face, had tears streaming down her frozen eyes. Wynter stared at the statue hard for a moment.

"Wynter, why are you staring at the statue like that?" Candlehead asked. Wynter responded not with words, but with actions. He snatched Candlehead's candle cap right off her head and held it close to the Willow statue. Instantly, the Willow statue started to melt as well.

Vanellope's jaw hit the floor while Wynter's eyes started filling with tears himself as realization dawned upon him.

The statue melted and a young girl collapsed to the floor, her long brown hair wet and matted to her face and her bright blue eyes pouring with tears.

Wynter just stared down at the girl in absolute shock and disbelief. The wretched girl glanced up at him, her face showing equal confusion. There was a long silence, as if the two children were still frozen.

It took a minute, but the two finally managed to exchange two words:

"W-Wynter?"

"W-Willow?"


End file.
